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A 

VOYAGE 

TO 

HUDSON'S BAY, 

DURING THE SUMMER 

OF 1812. 



CONTAINING 

A PARTICULAR ACCOUNT OF THE ICEBERGS AND OTHER 

PHENOMENA WHICH PRESENT THEMSELVES 

IN THOSE REGIONS; 

ALSO, 

A DESCRIPTION OF THE ESQUIMEAUX AND NORTH AME- 
RICAN INDIANS ; THEIR MANNERS, CUSTOMS, 
DRESS, LANGUAGE, &c. &c. &c. 



BY 

THOMAS M'KEEVOR, M.D. 

OF THE DUBLIN LYING-IN HOSPITAL, 



Where, undissolving from the first of time, 
Snows swell on snows amazing to the sky, 
And icy mountains, high on mountains pU'd, 
Seem, to the shivering sailor, from afar, 
Shapeless and white, an atmosphere of clouds 
Projecting, huge and horrid, o'er the surge. 



LONDON: 



PRINTED FOR SIR RICHARD PHILLIPS and Co, 

BRIDE-COURT, BRIDGE-STREET. 



1819. 



I 

VT. L';wn. rrintfr, -21, Finch-lane, Comhill. 



PREFACE. 



A few months relaxation from professional studies 
during the summer of the year 1812, and a very liberal 
offer of the Earl of Selkirk, induced me to become 
the medical attendant on his Lordship's colony, then 
about to depart for Hudson's Bay. 

The notes which I took during that very interesting 
voyage, have lain by me ever since ; nor is it probable 
they would ever have emerged from obscurity, but for 
the unprecedented interest which the affairs of that part 
of the northern world have of late excited, and for the 
present convenient and popular form of publication. 

The literary defects which pervade this narrative 
require, I am aware, some apology ; but this, I should 
hope, will be afforded by the unremitting anxieties 
to which I am exposed in my present situation of 
Assistant to the extensive Lying-in Hospital of this 
city. 

Dublin Lying-in Hospital, 
Aug. 26, 1819. 






V 






V 






.0 



* 



VOYAGE 



TO 



HUDSON S BAY. 



ON Wednesday, June the 24th, about four o'clock in thex 
afternoon, we got under way, having on-board the Earl 
of Selkirk, Mr. Everard of Sligo, and a few other gentle- 
men who had dined with us. At first it was our intention not 
to proceed to sea that night, but merely to get clear of Sligo 
Bay, which cannot at all times be easily accomplished. About 
six o'clock, however, the captain came down to inform Lord 
Selkirk, that it was his wish to proceed to sea immediately ; 
and Lord Selkirk and company took their leave. 

Their " lessening boat" had scarcely disappeared, when, 
leaning over the quarter-deck, I was insensibly led to the con- 
templation of the grand and sublime scenery with which I 
was, for the first time in my life, surrounded. On one side 
I beheld the vast and widely-extended body of waters, over 
which the moon was just beginning to throw a diffused and 
silvery light ; on the other appeared my native land, like a 
dusky streak stretched along the verge of the horizon. Its thin 
and misty form had somewhat the appearance of a dense vapour, 
which had been precipitated by the chill cool air of evening. 

The solemnity and stillness of this calm repose of nature 
was only interrupted by the soft splash of the light wave 
against the head and sides of the vessel, and occasionally 
by the slow and solemn voice of the captain giving his com- 
mands to the helmsman. 

From this train of reflections I was, however, soon dis- 
turbed by the voice of the steward, who came upon deck to 
announce that supper was on the table. I immediately went 
down to the cabin, where I found 31r. and Mrs. M'CIain, 
from the Isle of Mull ; Mr. Keveny, Mr. Johnson, and the 
rest of the cabin-passengers. After partaking of a very ele- 
gant and well-dressed supper, we continued chatting until 
twelve o'clock : " that hour o' night's black arch the key- 
stone," when we all agreed to retire, or, as it is technically 
termed, to turn in. In a short time, without much solicita- 
tion, w r e were visited by that sweet refreshing power which 
rarely visits sorrow, and when it doth, it is a comforter. 

During the first week, the occurrences of our voyage were 
Voyages and Travels, No. 8. Vol. II. B 



2 M'Keevor's Voyage to Hudson's Bay, 

like the generality of sea-affaire, too trivial to become interest- 
ing, and too unvaried to afford amusement. The wind conti- 
nued fair, and the weather extremely fine, so that on an 
average we made about 150 miles each day. 

Thursday, July the 2d. Early in the morning, we observed 
a strange sail, which the captain at first apprehended might 
be an enemy; but, on nearer approach, he discovered her to 
hv the King George, one of the Hudson's Bay company's ships, 
commanded by Captain Turner : a short time after, we ob- 
served another vessel, which we found to be the Eddystonc, 
the property of the same company, commanded by Captain 
Ramsay. At nine o'clock, A. M. they continued to bear clow it 
upon us in full sail. About ten we spoke the King George; 
and, shortly after, the Eddystone, lat. as observed, 57° 43' N.; 
we continued in company for a couple of hours. Our vessel, 
however, being much better adapted for quick sailing, we, in 
a short time, left them completely behind. 

Sunday, July the 12th. Weather very thick and hazy, ac* 
companicd with constant drizzling rain. Wind continues fair. 
The air feels very cold, owing, as the captain suspects, 
to our being near ice. About half past one, the man at the 
helm said he saw land. Owing to the very unfavourable 
state of the weather, we remained for a considerable time in 
suspense. The captain does not think that this can possibly 
be the case. At length, however, from its very striking ap- 
pearance, he was induced to send for his telescope ; is still 
rather doubtful ; if land, he thinks, it must be Cape Farewell,* 
in which case we are 200 miles behind where we supposed our- 
selves to be. In the end, it appeared to be merely what the 
seamen call a Cape Fly-away, 

About two o'clock the captain, having got an interval of 
fine weather, set about making an observation, which satis^ 
fied him that we were then past the entrance to Davis's 
Straits. About four o'clock we saw a young whale. 

Monday, July the 13th. The weather continues thick and 
hazy, with much rain, but little wind ; helm lashed. Air 
still feels very cold, especially on going aloft. 

About nine o'clock, P. M., two men were stationed at the 
bow of the vessel, that immediate notice might be given of the 
appearance of ice. The captain, before going to bed, gave 
orders that ice-anchors, boat-hooks, &c. should be got in rea- 
diness. Twelve o'clock, P. M., wind increased, going about 



* Cape Farewell, the southern extremity of Greenland, is situated in 
lat. 59° 38' N., and long. 42« W. 



MKeevor's Voyage to Hudson's Bay. 3 

three knots ; took in sail. About one we lay to. About half- 
past one,. P. M., we saw ice for the first time ; it appeared* in 
the form of large detached masses. Several pieces struck the 
vessel, and with so much violence as to awaken almost every 
person on board. Four o'clock : the ice continues to come in 
immense large fleaks ; the pieces are larger, but not quite so 
numerous. Owing to the very unfavourable state of the wea- 
ther, we could get no opportunity for making an observation ; 
the captain, however, suspects that we are about the entrance 
to Hudson's Straits. 

Tuesday, July the 14th. Weather still continues thick and 
hazy; almost a complete calm ; helm lashed. The horizon is 
covered with numerous fleaks of ice ; on some of them we ob- 
served a great quantity of sand and gravel. Some of these 
masses had a greenish, while others had an azure tint ; they 
appeared to be moving wi$h considerable velocity. 

About five o'clock in the afternoon we saw the first island 
of ice ; the haze of the atmosphere, along with a light drizzling 
rain, prevented us, however, from seeing either its summit or 
circumference distinctly. Plate II. will afford a tolerable 
correct idea of its appearance ; it was taken by Mr. Holmes, 
an ingenious young gentleman, who was on his way out to 
join Lord Selkirk's party on Red River. This enormous mass 
appeared quite stationary ; at least, I could not observe that 
it had the slightest motion. 

Friday, July the 17th. About six o'clock in the morning 
the captain came down to inform us that he had seen land ; is 
uncertain, however, where we are, not having had any oppor- 
tunity of making an observation for some days. Is inclined to 
think, however, that it is Resolution-Island.f 

About nine o'clock we got within a short distance of it ; it 
had a most cheerless, dreary appearance, being for the most 

* In clear weather a curious appearance, to which seamen have given the 
name of the Ice-blink, is observed on approaching the ices. It consists of 
a lucid streak spread along that part of the atmosphere which is next the 
horizon. It is evidently occasioned by the reflection of the rays of light 
which fall on the surface of the ice into the superincumbent air. Not unfre- 
queutly they afford a beautiful map or picture of the ice for a considerable 
distance, resembling, in this way, the curious atmospherical phenomenon 
to which naturalists have given the name of the Mirage. Field-ice, Mr. 
Scoresby informs us, affords the most lucid blink, accompanied with a tinge 
of yellow: that of packs is more peculiarly white, and of iffy-tee" greyish. 
The land, from its snowy covering, likewise occasions a blink, which is 
yellowish, and not unlike that produced by the ice of fields. 

t Resolution Island is situated on the N. side of the entrance into Hud- 
son's Straits ; it is considered to be about sixty miles in circumference, N. 
!at. 61° 40' W. Jong. 65°. 

B2 



4 M'Keevor'e Voyage to Hudton's Bay* 

part covered with frost and snow, with, here and there, 
patches of dark black peat. Not a single shrub enlivened this 
barren desolate spot. Here every thing wore a solitary, sad, 
and dismal aspect. The hoarse murmuring of the waves, which 
ever and anon renewed their assaults on the huge masses of 
dark-grey rock that opposed them, gave it, I thought, a still 
more despondent look. 

Ten o'clock. After bearing away from the land, we again 
got in among straggling ice. 

After dinner, this day, Mr. Johnson came down to the 
cabin in great agitation to inform us that we were bearing- 
fast down on an immense mountain of ice.* A solemn pause 
ensued on hearing this very alarming piece of intelligence. 
In a short time, however, we were all upon deck ; and here 
the appearance of our situation was awful in the extreme ; 
the snouting of the men, the rumbling of the cordage, the 
tremendous mountain of ice, on which we every moment ex- 
pected to be dashed to pieces, contributed to render this 
scene the most terrific tnat could well be imagined. The 
captain did all he could to get the ship about, but without 
effect, owing to her having missed stays. We were not more 
than ten yards from it, when fortunately a light breeze spring- 
ing up, the sails filled, and in a short time we were completely 
clear of this frightful mass. Plate III. affords a very correct 
representation of it. 

The whole of this day was truly unpleasant ; the weather 
continued thick and hazy ; indeed, the fog was at times so 
dense that we could hardly see ten yards from the ship, in 
consequence of which we were frequently just in contact with 
fields of ice without being at all aware of it. Friday night 



* The British Packet, Lady Hobart, ran against ono of these floating 
islands, higher than the mast-head, and of great extent, in June, 1803, and 
foundered ; the crew and passengers saved themselves with great difficulty in 
two boats. The American ship Neptune perished likewise in the same 
manner, with a great part of the people in her. Captain Cotes, of the 
Hudson's-Bay Company's service, lost two ships in a similar way ; one of 
them by running against a piece of ice in the night, off Cape Farewell, in 
consequence of which the ship foundered ; the other in Hudson's Straits, 
where two large fields of ice were driven together with great force ; the ship 
being between them, was so much damaged that she sunk as soon as the ice 
departed. Mr. Ellis tells us, that one of the Hudson's-Bay^ Company's 
ships was caught in a similar way, while on her way from York-Fort to 
Churchill ; upon the two pieces meeting, she was raised quite out of the 
water, and left dry upon one of them ; but she receiving no damage by that 
strange accident, when the ice opened, the people launched her, and pro~ 
eoeded on theix voyage.— See Ellis's Voyage to Hudson's Bay, p. 67. 



M'Keevor's Voyage to Hudson's Bay, 5 

it continued to blow very fresh ; constantly tacking between 
land and ice. Ship got several very severe knocks; so severe, 
indeed, that a considerable quantity of copper has been torn 
from her bottom. 

Saturday, July the 18th. Weather continues squally, 
with dense fog. Still tacking about between land and ice. 
Uncertain of our situation, the captain not being able to make 
any observation. Also uncertain of our course, in consequence 
of the extraordinary variation of the compass.* The ship 
became so leaky this day, in consequence of the injuries re- 
ceived from the ice, that we were obliged to keep the pumps 
constantly at work. 

Sunday, July 19th. Weather much improved; occasional 
sun-shine. About twelve, the captain was enabled to make an 
observation; found that we were in latitude 61° 26'. We 
were now quite satisfied that the land in view was Resolution- 
Island. 

Four o'clock. Haze and mist completely dispersed : 
steady sun-shine. Wind much more moderate ; patches of 
fine blue sky here and there present themselves. It is incon- 
ceivable with what joy we beheld the first gleam of sun-shine; 
its cheering beams appeared to diffuse cheerfulness and good- 
humour amongst us all. About six, we were completely sur- 
rounded with ice ; the wind, however, became so moderate, 
that we ran no risk by venturing in amongst it. Several ice- 
bergs in view. Just as we had done dinner this day, the 
steward came into the cabin witli word that the King George 
and Eddystone, the two vessels already mentioned, were in 
sight. Nothing could possibly have afforded us greater gra- 
tification than this intelligence. We all immediately went 
upon deck, when, to our very great surprise, we saw the 
George about thirty yards from us. The Eddystone, owing 
to the ice, could not get quite so near. In a short time, the 
George got so close that we were able to get on board by 



* The exact cause of this extraordinary variation is, I believe, not well 
ascertained. The most generally received opinion, however, is, that which 
attributes it to the influence of some enormous mass of metallic matter con- 
tained in the bowels of the earth. By the early navigators, this phenomenon 
was ascribed to the cold air situated between the needle and the point of its 
attraction. Ellis asserts, that when the compasses were brought into a warm 
room, they recovered their proper action and direction; i. e. when brought 
down to the cabin it pointed with much greater accuracy. I may remark, 
that we found the same effect produced by bringing the boxes down to the 
cabin. Perhaps, in this case, the cold acted by congealing the moisture 
contained in the air which surrounded the needle, and in this way presented 
a mechanical obstruction to its motion.— The subject is curious. 



6 M'Keevor's Voyage to Hudson 9 s Bay. 

merely crossing a single flake of ice. Here we spent a very 
pleasant evening". After taking tea and other refreshments, 
a dance was proposed. The Scotch piper was instantly sum- 
moned upon deck, and I was much amused at the haughty 
air with which this rawboned athletic highlander strutted up 
and down, his plaiden pendant streaming in the air, while 
the pitroch sent forth its shrill-inspiring peal through the 
adjacent hills and vallies. After some preparatory arrange- 
ments, the whole party, consisting of about eight couple, 
were in brisk and rapid motion. 

When the dance was ended, our musician, after some 
introductory screams and flourishes, commenced the famous 
battle song. For my part, I could discover nothing in this 
favourite production of the Celtic muse, but a confused col- 
lection of harsh and dissonant sounds. On the faces of our 
Caledonian friends, however, it appeared to operate like 
magic : their hard and rigid features began to relax, the eye 
began to sparkle, and the whole visage to assume a gay and 
animated appearance, mixed, I thought, with some little por- 
tion of lofty unbending pride, which shewed itself particu- 
larly by a complacent smile that played about the angle of the 
mouth. About twelve o'clock we sat down to a very elegant 
supper, and soon forgot the perilous, I might say, the awful 
situation, in which we were placed. We resolved on strewing 
with flowers " the moments as they rolled," and gave ourselves 
up for some hours to gaiety and mirth. 

The storm without might rain and rustle, 
Tarn did na mind the storm a whistle. 

About two o'clock we parted ; the moon had just emerged 
from amidst a mass of dark black clouds, and poured her full 
tide of effulgence on the surrounding scenery, giving it an 
appearance, to borrow the words of a favourite, though un- 
known author, as if a covering of the thinnest silver gauze 
had been thrown over it. The canopy of heaven had a clear 
and sparkling appearance, while the horizon was on all sides 
thickly studded with ice-islands, whose .clustering peaks ap- 
peared to penetrate the airy clouds. 

Silence accompanied : for beast and bird, 
They to their icy couch, these to their nests 
Were slunk. 

But to%ttempt describing the grandeur of a moonlight-scene 
in the ice would be vain indeed. No language (at least that 
I could select) would afford adequate means of description. 
The richest proves but poor in the attempt; and all the pes 



M'Keevor's Voyage to Hudson* s Bay. 7 

sible combination of words are few indeed to those of nature, 
under all her variety of forms and colours. In a short time 
we regained our vessel, when we retired, much gratified 
with our evening's amusement. 

Monday, July the 20th. Weather continues very fine, 
sky serene and calm ; the horizon is covered on all sides with 
ice, consisting 1 for the most part of broken-up fields. About 
twelve o'clock a light fair breeze sprung up, when the captain 
gave orders to have more sail set. A person unaccustomed 
to the navigation of these s>eas, would consider it as altogether 
impossible that a ship could make any way when completely 
beset with ice : still, however, when the breeze is fair, and the 
flakes of ice not very large, it is astonishing what progress 
she will make in the course of twenty-four hours. During 
this operation of forcing through the ice, every man on board 
has his place assigned him, while the captain takes his in the 
most convenient one for observing when the ship approaches 
very near the piece of ice directly a-head ; immediately on 
the word being given, the ship is put about, and in less than 
a minute is moving in a quite contrary direction. When a 
" vein of water,"* as they term it, presents itself, they always 
endeavour to avail themselves of it. 

Tuesday, July the 20th. Weather continues very fine, 
wind fair ; forcing our way through huge masses of ice : 
about two o'clock, the breeze dying away, wo got fastened to 
one of the principal icebergs. This island, I am certain, 
could not be less than 300 feet high, and about a quarter of a 
mile in circumference. The anchors which they use on these 
occasions resemble very much an italic S ; to one extremity a 
cable is attached, while a hole is made in the ice for the purpose 
of receiving the other. Being now completely at rest, we had 
more leisure and more inclination to contemplate the very grand 
and novel scene with which we were surrounded. The first 
thing that engages the attention of the passing mariner, is the 
majestic, as well as singular forms which the ice assumes in these 
chilling regions. I have seen many of these immense masses 
bear a very close resemblauce to an ancient abbey with arched 
doors and windows, and all the rich embroidery of the Gothic 
style of architecture ; while others assume the appearance of 



* Navigating among icebergs in the gloom of night, has sometimes been 
attended with fatal consequences. Occurring far from land, and in unex- 
pected situations, the danger would be extreme, were they not providen- 
tially rendered visible by their natural effulgence, which enables the ma- 
riner to distinguish them at some distance, even in the darkest night, or 
during the prevalence of the - densest fog. — Sec Scoresby on Polar Ice. 



8 M'Keevor's Voyage to Hudson's Bay. 

a Grecian temple, supported by round massive columns of an 
azure hue, which at a distance looked like the purest moun- 
tain granite. These stupendous masses, or icebergs, as they 
are termed, are 6ome of them the creation of ages, and receive 
annually additional height by the falling of snows and rain, 
which instantly congeal, and in this way more than repair the 
loss occasioned by the influence of the melting sun. The 
spray of the ocean, which dashes against these mountains, 
freezes into an infinite variety of forms, and gives to the spec- 
tator ideal towers, streets, churches, steeples, and, in fact, 
every shape which the most romantic imagination could pic- 
ture to itself. When, at the close of evening, the almost level 
beams of the descending sun are directed on the numerous 
apertures, or chambers, as we might suppose them, of these 
imaginary palaces, abbeys, &c. the effect is inconceivably 
grand : in one place you see them touched with a rich golden 
colour; in another, with a light purple tint; and in others, 
again, with a rich crimson suffusion. 

Some of these islands, as I have already mentioned, re- 
main stationary for ages in this frozen climate; while the 
smaller masses, or floating mountains, as they are called, 
move slowly and majestically along, chilling the ambient at- 
mosphere for miles around, until, being drifted into southern 
latitudes, they are gradually dissolved in the boundless ele- 
ment. It sometimes happens, that two of these masses, though 
distinct* above water, are intimately united beneath its sur- 
face. I recollect the captain mentioning to me, that owing 
to this circumstance, the Hudson's Bay Company, a few years 
ago, lost one of their finest vessels. The master, not sup- 
posing but that they were quite distinct beneath, ran the 
vessel in between them ; the ship immediately foundered, and 
every person on board would have perished, but that fortu- 
nately another of the company's ships was at hand to take 
them up. 

By afield I of ice is to be understood one uninterrupted sheet 
of considerable extent. They vary from one to many leagues 
in length. 31r. Scoresby states, that upon one which he saw 
he conceived a coach might be driven a hundred miles without 
meeting with any obstruction. This I have not the smallest 

* Barenlz, and the famous Dutch navigator Heemskerk, in their voyage 
for the discovery of a north-east passage, after wintering at Nova Zembla, 
lost their ship in this way, and then sailed many hundred leagues in an open 
boat, through the ice; during which, they were often assaulted by the white 
bears, and sometimes obliged to drag the boat and all' its lading a good way 
over the ice. They came at last to Kolira, in Lapland, where they were 
taken up by a Dutch vessel.~£ee Crantz* Greenland. 



M i Keevor > s Voyage to Hudson's Bay. 9 

doubt to be the fact. Indeed, I have frequently gone aloft my- 
self for the purpose of ascertaining their extent, but have 
often been unable, as far as the eye could reach, to observe 
even a single fissure in them. On their surface, which is 
generally raised three or four feet above the level of the water, 
I have seen the seals bark and frolic in hundreds. The 
coalition of two of these great fields produces a most singular 
phenomenon ; the larger forces the lesser out of the water, 
and adds it to its surface; and in this way a second and a 
third are often superadded, until the whole forms an aggre- 
gate of a tremendous height. The collision of the greater 
fields is often attended with a noise, that for a time deprives you 
of the power of hearing any thing else, resembling very much 
the sound of distant thunder : the meeting of the smaller 
pieces produces a harsh grinding kind of noise, not unlike, 
as Mr. Scoresby accurately remarks, that of complicated ma- 
chinery. ♦ 

During* the summer months these masses become very 
brittle, and frequently give way with a tremendous report, in 
this way laying the foundation for other islands similar to 
themselves. At this time considerable risk is incurred, either 
by going ashore on them, as we may term it, or by allowing 
the vessel to approach too near their perpendicular front. It 
has not unfrequently happened that ships have been sunk by 
their detached portions falling in on the deck. That these 
apprehensions are not imaginary, the following circumstance 
will, I think, afford a satisfactory proof. 

One morning I went out with a party of the men in the 
jolly-boat, for the purpose of towing away the vessel from one 
of these ice-bergs, in ordef to guard against the accident to 
which I have just alluded. In this instance the island was so 
high, that its summit stretched in an arched form for a consider- 
able distance over the top-mast of the vessel. Before getting 
to that part of the island to which the ice-anchor was attached, 
it was necessary to pass a projecting point, where the island, 
as it were, shelved out to a considerable distance. The man 
who had the command of the boat, unwilling to lose time, in- 
stead of sailing round this projecting portion, ordered the boat 
to be rowed directly under it. We had scarcely got half-way 
when a violent report,* like that of a piece of artillery, an- 



* Ice-bergs, on being struck with an axe for the purpose of placing a 
mooring anchor, have been known to rend asunder, and precipitate the care- 
less seaman into the watery chasm ; whilst, occasionally, the masses are 
hurled apart and fall, in contrary directions, with a prodigious crasb, bury- 

Voyages and Travels, JVo. 8. Vol II. C 



10 M'Kecvor's Voyage to Hudson's Bay, 

nounced to us that apart of the island was about to give way. 
Every ono appeared in the greatest alarm. The boatswain 
ordered the boat to be pushed off instantly. Before, however, 
we could get completely free of the ice, the whole side of the 
mountain was detached with a noise like thunder, and in- 
stantly we were immersed in the yawning gulph, from which 
we never expected to rise again ; in a few seconds, however, 
our little jolly-boat rose triumphant on the ridge of the foam- 
ing wave. Having cleared out the fragments of ice which 
had got into the boat, we made towards the ship- where we 
were welcomed as if we had risen from the dead. After 
changing our clothes and taking some refreshment, we soon 
forgot this nearly fatal occurrence. The violent noise which 
those dinuptions, ox ice quakes, as they are very appropriately 
termed, produces, is not, as Mr. Lesslie remarks, to be al- 
together attributed to the crash of the falling fragments. 
"In those frightful climates," observes this ingenious philo- 
sopher, " the winter at once sets in with most intense frost, 
which probably envelopes the globules of air, separated from 
the water in the act of congelation, and, invading them on all 
sides, reduces them to a state of high condensation. When 
the mild weather begins, therefore, to prevail, the body of 
ice, penetrated by the warmth, becomes soft and friable; and 
the minute, but. numerously interspersed globules of impri- 
soned air, exerting together their concentrated elasticity, pro- 
duce the most violent explosive dinuptions."«**-$ee Lesslie 
on Heat and Moisture, 

With regard to the manner in which those mountains and 
fields of ice are formed, I do not propose entering into any 
lengthened discussion ; and this I conceive the more unne- 
cessary, as Mr. Scoresby's late ingenious and very able publi- 
cation contains almost every thing that can be said on this 
obscure, though very interesting subject. I propose condens- 
ing the few remarks I have to make into as narrow and as 
simple a form as possible. 

The greater part of the difficulties and principal source of 
obscurity in the numerous discussions which have taken place 
on this subject, appear to me to turn on this single point : Can 
ice be formed on the surface of sea-water ?— For my part, I 
can conceive no reason whatever why it should not* 

11 ' ' * ' ' ■ ■ « ■ H I I I H I I II I 

ing boats and men in one common ruin. The awful effect produced by a 
solid mass, many thousands of tons in weight, changing its situation with 
the velocity of a falling body, whereby its aspiring summit is in a moment 
buried in the ocean, can be more easily imagined than described.— See 
SconrsBY on Polar Ice. Transactions of the Wernerian Society. 



M'Keevor's Voyage to Hudson's Bay. II 

The circumstances which appear to me to favour its pro- 
dtiction, I shall arrange under the following heads : 

First, Intense cold. 

Second, A state of rest. 

Third, The falling of crystallized snow and hail-stones. 

Fourth, The separation of ice from the bottom of the 
ocean. 

And first, with regard to intense cold. Any one at all 
acquainted with these rigorous climes must allow, that there is 
here an abundance of this the most essential of all requisites. 
During the winter season, which usually continues for nine 
months, the spirit thermometer is commonly found to stand at 
50. Quicksilver freezes into a solid mass; consequently, the 
cold which then prevails must exceed 71 degrees, or 39 be- 
low the commencement of Ifahrenheit's scale ; a degree of 
natural cold which, I believe, is rarely exceeded. Wine, and 
even ardent spirits,* become converted into a spongy mass of 
ice ; even the " living forests" do not escape, the very sap of 
the trees being frozen ; and which, owing to the internal ex- 
pansion which takes place in consequence, occasionally burst 
with tremendous noise. 

Now it is proved by experiments, that when the thermome- 
ter falls to 27°, other circumstances being favourable, that a 
pellicle of ice will be formed on the surface of sea-water. How 
then, I would ask, is the excess of cold between 27 and 50, 
exerting itself? Are we to suppose that it floats passively along 
the chilled surface of the ocean without exerting any frigorific 
influence? This would be in direct opposition to one of the 
most generally established laws of caloric, that of diffusing 
itself among bodies until an equilibrium of temperature is es- 
tablished. But it may be said, that no ice can be formed until 
the whole mass of fluid is reduced to the temperature of 35°,f 
or that point at which sea-water begins to expand. If, how- 
ever, this intense cold continues a sufficient Length of time to 
affect the entire body of fluid, this objection must, I conceive, 
fall to the ground. Now, any one who considers for a moment 
the duration of the tedious and dreary Arctic winter, must, 
I should think, allow that there is more than sufficient time 
for the whole mass to become cooled down considerably below 
this temperature. This effect will of course be much more 



* By this I mean, of course, common spirits, 
f I have said 35°, presuming that sea-water will begin to expand the 
same number of degrees above its freezing point that common water does $ 
but of this I am not certain. 

C3 



12 M'Keevor's Voyage to Hudson's Bay. 

readily produced in those seas that have not free access to the 
main body of the ocean, as also where the depth is not very 
great. It may also be said, that owing to the currents and 
heaving tides by which they are agitated, the different por- 
tions of water are so effectually intermixed as, in some degree, 
to equalize the temperature. It must be observed, however, 
that this equilibrium of temperature by no means takes place 
with such rapidity as we should, d priori, suppose. In proof 
of this I may adduce the well-known fact, that the tempera- 
ture of the sea always falls in shoal-water ; hence the thermo- 
meter has been found a very useful instrument in navigation, 
being frequently substituted for the more tedious process of 
sounding. It may be also observed, that fluids are very bad 
conductors of caloric, and that, as these seas are never agi- 
tated by very high winds, the excess of cold will readily 
counteract the influence which the currents might otherwise 
produce. 

The second circumstance which I have to notice, as being 
highly favourable for the production of ice, is a state of rest. 
.Every one who has visited these remote regions must have 
noticed at once the remarkable stillness of the northern seas. 
It is, in fact, as smooth and as unruffled as the most retired 
harbour, owing, I should suppose, to the enormous pressure 
which the ice already formed exerts on its surface.* Mr. 
Scoresby tells us, that the ice, by its weight, can keep down 
the most violent surges, and that its resistance is so effectual, 
that ships sheltered by it rarely find the sea disturbed by 
swells. This state of rest will, I conceive, favour the pro- 
duction of ice in the same way as it does other kinds of crys- 
tallization ; namely, by allowing the particles held, in solution 
to arrange themselves at determinate angles. Lest, however, 
it should be looked on as a kind of petitio principii, to argue 
in favour of the production of ice from an effect produced by 
ice already formed, I proceed to state the third source to 
which I have alluded; namely, the falling of crystallized 
snow and hail-stones. These, I conceive, may operate in two 
ways : First, by the mechanical agitation which they give to 
the surface of the ocean, thus acting in the same way as in the 
common experiment of immersing a portion of water contained 



* All these phenomena exactly accord with the system of philosophy 
lately promulgated by Sir Richard Phillips, who ascribes all phenomena 
1o aggregate and atomic motion; and the frozen state of the Polar seas to 
the diminished rotatory motion of the aggregate, as well as the diffusion of 
the solar light, or atomic motion of light, over the oblique surface. 

Editor. 



M'Keevor's Voyage to Hudson's Bay. 13 

in a glass tube into a freezing moisture; if kept at perfect 
rest, no crystallization will take place, at least not until the 
entire mass is reduced to a very low degree of temperature ; 
but if slightly agitated, as by striking the side of the tube with 
a piece of money, the whole instantly starts into a solid mass. 
Secondly, by serving as so many nuclei, from which crystalliz- 
ation will spread on all sides ; thus operating, I conceive, on 
the same principle as the crystal of a salt does when dropped 
into a saline solution. Mr. Kerwan was the first, I believe, 
who remarked, that when a crystal of the same kind of salt 
with that held in solution was dropped in, the process of 
crystallization went on still more rapidly. Now, crystallized 
snow and hail-stones, being merely small portions of congealed 
water, may, perhaps, operate in a similar way.* 

To the sources already enumerated, I have lastly to add, 
that of the formation of ice at the bottom of the ocean, and 
which becoming detached by the force of the currents, will, 
by its diminished and specific gravity, rise to the surface and 
become, as it were, a centre for further accumulations. From 
the difficulties attendant on an explanation of this curious 
phenomenon, some have considered it as altogether improba- 
ble, while others have gone the length of denying it altoge- 
ther. The circumstance however, at least with regard to. fresh 
water, is now put beyond the possibility of all doubt, and we 
can very readily conceive, that what a lesser degree of cold 
will effect in the beds of lakes and rivers, a still greater will 
be able to accomplish at the bottom of the ocean. Mr. Lesslie, 
in a note prefixed to his very interesting work on the subject 
of heat, tells us, that many of the rivers in Siberia and Swit- 
zerland are found to have their beds lined, during the greater 
part of the year, with a thick crust of ice. Saussure describes 
a similar appearance in the lakes of Geneva. Mr. Garnet, in 
a very interesting paper contained in the last number of the 
Journal of Science and of Arts, gives a very minute account 
of this singular appearance. He mentions one place, in parti- 
cular, where this phenomenon is to be observed in a very 
striking manner. As the very valuable publication, in which 
this interesting paper is contained, is in the hands of i'ew, ex- 
cept scientific readers, I trust an account of it will not be 
deemed superfluous. 



* When, observes Mr. Lesslie, we examine the stricture of a hail-stone, 
we shall perceive a snowy kernel incased by a harder crust. It has very 
nearly the appearance of a drop of water suddenly frozen, the particles of 
air being driven from the surface towards the centre, where they form a 
spongy texture. — See Lesslie on Heat ami Moisture. 



14 M'Kecvor's Voyage to Hudson's Bay. 

Oa the river Wharfe, near Otley, in the West Riding of 
Yorkshire, is a weir, or mill-dam, the structure of which is 
of hewn stone, forming a plane, inclined to an angle of from 35° 
to 60° fronting the north, and extending from W. to E. to 
the length of 250 or 300 yards. When the wind suddenly 
shifts from S. W. to N. W., and blows with great impetuosity, 
accompanied with severe frost and heavy falls of snow, the 
stone which composes the weir soon becomes encrusted with 
ice, which increases so rapidly in thickness, as in a short time 
to impede the course of the stream that falls over it in a toler- 
able uniform sheet, and with considerable velocity : at the 
same time the wind, blowing strongly from the N. W. contri- 
butes to repel the water, and freeze such as adheres to the 
crust of ice when its surface comes nearly in contact with the 
air. The consequence is, that in a short time the current is 
entirely obstructed, and the superincumbent water forced to 
a higher level. But, as the above-mentioned causes continue 
to act, the ice is also elevated by a perpetual aggregation of 
particles ; till, by a series of similar operations, an icy-mound, 
or barrier, is formed so high as to force the water over the op- 
posite shore, and thus produce an apparent inundation. But 
in a short time the accumulated weight of a great many thou- 
sand cubic feet of water presses so strongly against the bar- 
rier, as to burst a passage through some weak part, through 
which the water escapes, "and subsides to its former level, 
leaving the singular appearance of a wall or rampart of ice, 
three or four feet in thickness, along the greatest part of the 
upper edge of the weir. The ice composing this barrier, 
where it adheres to the stone, is of a solid consistency, but the 
upper part consists of a multitude of thin lamina?, or layers, 
resting upon each other in a confused manner, and at different 
angles oi inclination, their interstices being occupied by innu- 
merable spiculae diverging and crossing each other in all di- 
rections. The whole mass resembles in its texture the white 
and porous ice, which may be seen at the edge of a pond, or 
small rill, where the water has subsided during a frost." — See 
Journal of Science and Arts. No. X. 

The explanation of this curious phenomena is certainly very 
difficult, and would appear to argue somewhat against the 
long-received opinion of the diminished specific gravity of 
water after being cooled down beyond the temperature of 39. 
As there has been as yet no satisfactory theory offered on the 
subject, I shall beg leave to state, in very few words, in 
what manner I conceive this deposition to take place. While 
reading Dr. Garnet's paper, I was very forcibly struck with 
the peculiar circumstances in which he states this icy incrus* 



M'Keevor's Voyage to Hudson's Bay. 15 

tat ion to take place : thus he tells us, that it is always formed 
in greatest abundance in proportion to the magnitude and 
number of the stones composing the bed of the river, com- 
bined with the velocity of the current; as also that it abounds 
most in rough and rapid places, and not at all where mud or 
clay is deposited. Now it has occurred to me, that, perhaps, 
the formation of ice in these situations may be owing to the 
same causes that gave rise to the deposition of dew and hoar- 
frost on grass, twigs, and other fibrous substances; namely, by 
their possessing a greater radiating power. The rough end 
surfaces of the stones I conceive to operate in the same way as 
the vegetable fibres do in a clear, unclouded atmosphere, by 
allowing the " affluent" wave to come in closer proximity with 
the surface, and thus facilitate the discharge of caloric from 
the bed of the river. That none appears where mud and earth 
are deposited, I should suppose to be owing to their present- 
inga smooth surface, in consequence of the water constantly 
rippling over it ; thus the stratum of incumbent fluid is pre- 
vented coming into as close contact as if it presented a ruggid 
surface. Just in the same way as if we were to take a highly- 
polished vessel of silver and fill it with hot water ; it will take, 
suppose twenty minutes, to cool a certain number of degrees ; 
but if its surface be scratched with sand-paper, it will cool the 
same number of degrees in nearly half the time. That a great 
part of the effect is owing, in this case, to the number of pro- 
jecting points is proved by the circumstance of simply scratch- 
ing' it in an opposite direction, when the effect is considerably 
lessened : the number of projecting points being thus dimi- 
nished, it will now take a much longer time to cool down the 
same number of degrees. It is on the same principle that a 
thin covering of muslin, instead of preventing the escape of 
heat, as & priori we should suppose, does actually favour its 
discharge. The N. W. wind may act in two ways : first, by 
its greater degree of cold ; secondly, perhaps, being' less im- 
pregnated with the particles of foreign bodies, in consequence 
of passing over the frozen regions of the north, it may be thus 
more favourably circumstanced for the escape and transmis- 
sion of those calorific radiations. 

The rays act on the same principle as a clear unclouded 
sky does in producing 1 the deposition of the aqueous meteors 
already alluded to. The only way, however, of ascertaining 
this >vould be by trying what effect screens of different kinds 
would produce, when interposed between the surface of the 
water and the strong current of the N. W. wind. This expla- 
nation appears to me to be supported by a fact long since ob- 
served, that water will congeal, though the ambient air should 






/ > 

. f 

1(J M i Kecvor > s Voyage to Hudson's Bay. 

be several degrees above the freezing point. The effect is, no 
doubt, considerably hastened by the cold produced by evapo- 
ration from the surface. This, however, exerts a very limited 
influence ; for, after it has arrived at a certain tempe- 
rature, the " shell of air" which comes in contact with it, 
before making any ascensional effort, will discharge a quantity 
of its surplus heat, and thus preserve the temperature of the 
fluid within certain limits. Something similar to this may be 
observed while passing through the fields of a cool evening. 
We often observe dew, or hoar-frost, deposited on twigs, grass, 
and other substances, though the air, even a few inches above 
their surface, is several degrees above temperature. With re- 
gard to the uses which this singular phenomenon may serve : 
— perhaps, in consequence of the heat extricated during the 
process of congelation, it may thus prevent the temperature of 
the numerous organized bodies, contained in those situations, 
from being reduced to a degree which would be incompa- 
tible with their healthy functions. It will thus render those 
substances the same services as the deposition of dew and hoar- 
frost does to the tender plants, the caloric, given out during 
these processes, preserving them from the cool air which is so 
prevalent during our summer evenings. 

It will in all probability be objected to the suggestions I 
have here thrown out, that they are in direct opposition to the 
observations of Mr. Lesslie, who asserts, that when the Can- 
nister Reflector and Differential Thermometer were plunged 
into water, that no radiation can be observed; and hence this 
ingenious philosopher concludes, that no radiation will take 
place, except when the radiating body is surrounded with an 
elastic medium. I may remark, however, that the experiments 
which he adduces in support of this opinion, are by no means 
decisive of the point. Substances cool so rapidly, when 
plunged into water, that there is scarcely time for the differen- 
tial thermometer to be affected ; and, besides, the heat could 
scarcely accumulate in the foral-ball, in such quantity as to 
occasion a sensible rise. Moreover, I can see no reason what- 
ever why radiant caloric should not pass through water as well 
as air. They are both fluids ; they receive and transmit slow 
communicating caloric in a precisely similar way, namely, by 
a constant recession or migration of heated particles ; they 
agree in many of their chemical relations, such as exterior 
solvent power, &c. ; they also agree in possessing elasticity ; 
though water is by no means susceptible of the same degree 
of condensation as air : still, however, that it possesses this 
property, in a slight degree, is obvious, from the common 
amusement in which boys indulge, of projecting a stone forci- 



M'Keevor's Voyage to Hudson's Bay* ft 

bly on the surface of a pond, thus making what they call a 
cluck and drake. Agreeing-, then, as these two fluids do in 
so many particulars, what is there, I would ask, in the consti- 
tution of water that should prevent the transmission of radiant 
caloric ? — Besides, if not transmitted through this fluid, what 
then becomes of it? is it converted into slow communicating 
caloric ? This would be to assert their identity, which, I be- 
lieve, all philosophers deny. Finally, I may remark, that the 
entire of this subject, notwithstanding the ingenious and labo- 
rious experiments of Mr. Lesslie, appears to me involved in a 
good deal of obscurity. The nature of radiant heat; whether 
identical with light or not ; as also the causes, why one por- 
tion of caloric should escape by radiation, and another by 
slow communication ; these are points on which, I think, we 
still stand much in need of further information. Until, there- 
fore, these matters are more fully investigated, I conceive we 
have just grounds to conclude, that water and air bear the 
same relations to radiant caloric. 

Having now enumerated the various causes which I con- 
ceive to favour the formation of ice on sea-water, I have 
further to remark, that this opinion is supported by the actual 
observations of several very intelligent navigators. Mr. 
M'Nairne, in 1776, shewed that, when Fahrenheit's thermo- 
ter is at 27J degrees, the fresh particles of sea-water will 
freeze, and leave nothing but strong brine behind. 

Barentz saw the sea, at Nova Zembla, suddenly frozen over 
to the depth of several inches. 

Mr. Scoresby, the intelligent navigator already mentioned, 
tells us, that he has seen ice grow on the surface of the sea to 
a consistence capable of stopping the progress of a ship with a 
brisk wind, even when exposed to the waves of the north sea 
and western ocean. The first layer, or slush ice, as it is 
termed, being once formed, there is, I conceive, but little 
difficulty in accounting for their subsequent enlargement. 
When the winter season sets in, and that crystallized* snow 
begins to fall, it becomes consolidated by the excessive cold 
of the climate, and will, of course, press down the primary 
strata, to use a geological phrase. The other aqueous me- 
teors of hail, rain, &c. suffering a similar condensation, we 
can readily conceive, that, by a gradual accumulation in this 



* That snow is deposited on the ice in high northern latitudes must be al- 
lowed, because no field has yet been met with which did not support a con" 
siderable burthen of it. — See Scoresby on Polar Ice.—Wernerian Transac- 
tions. 

Voyages and Travels. No. 2. Vol II. D 



18 M'Keevor's Voyage to Hudson's Bay, 

way* masses of any size may be formed. The disruptions so 
common during the summer months, as also the overlapping' 
of the fields, will likewise lay the foundation for further accu- 
mulations. The cause assigned by Mr. Lesslie will also assist 
in accounting for their progressive increase. " The most sa- 
tisfactory mode," remarks this able philosopher, " of explain- 
ing the phenomenon, is to refer it to the operation of a general 
principle, by which the inequalities on the surface of a field 
of ice must be constantly increased. The lower parts of the 
field being nearer the tempered mass of the ocean, are not so 
cold as those which project into the atmosphere, and, conse- 
quently, the air which ascends, becoming chilled in sweeping 
over the eminences, there deposits some of its moisture, form- 
ing an icy coat. But this continued incrustation, in the lapse 
of ages, produces a vast accumulation, till the shapeless mass 
is at length precipitated by its own weight." 

With regard to the kind of solution which the field-ice 
affords, a variety of opinions have prevailed. Some asserting 
that the solution had a saline taste, others, that it was quite 
free from it. This discordancy may, I conceive, be explained 
in this way: when the saline substances dissolved in sea- 
water lose their medium of solution, it is obvious they must 
be precipitated ; and even though some of the particles should 
continue interspersed through the frozen mass, it must be 
merely in a state of mechanical union. The superincumbeut 
layer of water, however, by slowly percolating through the 
spongy mass, will gradually wash away those entangled par- 
ticles. We can thus very readily account for the circumstance 
of even the portion which is formed from sea-water affording* 
a solution* altogether destitute of saline taste. When, how- 
ever, this process of filtration is arrested by the deposition of 
an incumbent layer of fresh-water ice, which is of a very close 
texture, these masses will then have a saline taste. 

Professor Lesslie, of Edinburgh, who has thrown much 
light on this very interesting department of physical science, 
has lately discovered the singular fact, that frigorific impres- 
sions are constantly showering down during the day as well 
as during the night from the higher regions of the atmosphere. 
From a variety of experiments performed by this philosopher* 
for the purpose of measuring those pulsations, it appears that 
the effect varies considerably according to the condition of 
the higher regions ; it is greatest while the sky has the pure 



* I have brought large fragments on board ;' have melted them, and uni- 
formly found that the solution was altogether free from the taste of salt- 
water. 



M'Keevor's Voyage to Hudson's Bay, 19 

azure hue ; it diminishes fast, as the atmosphere becomes 
loaded with spreading clouds ; and it is almost extinguished 
when low fogs settle on the surface. These effects are, no 
doubt, more conspicuous in the finer regions of the globe. 
Accordingly, they did not escape the observation of the an- 
cients, but gave rise to opinions which were embodied in the 
language of poetry. The term A*?, was applied only to the 
grossest part of the atmosphere, while the highest portion of 
it, free from clouds and vapour, and bordering on the pure 
fields of aether, received the kindred appellation of A»0^«. In 
southern climates especially, a transpiercing cold is felt at 
night under the clear and sparkling canopy of heaven. The 
natives carefully avoid exposing themselves to this supposed 
celestial influence, yet a thin shed of palm-leaves may be suf- 
ficient at once to screen them from the scorching rays of the 
sun, and to shelter them against the chilling impressions 
rained from the higher atmosphere. The captains of the 
French gallies in the Mediterranean used formerly to cool 
their wines in summer by hanging their flasks all night from 
the masts. At day-break they were taken down, and lapped 
in several folds of flannel, to preserve them in the same 
state. The frigorific impression of a serene and azure sky 
must undoubtedly have concurred with the power of evapo- 
ration in augmenting the energy of the process of nocturnal 
cooling, practised anciently in Egypt, and now systematically 
pursued in the higher grounds of India. As the chilliness 
accumulated on the ground is greatest in clear nights, when 
the moon shines brightest, it seemed very natural to impute 
this effect partly to some influence emanating from that feeble 
luminary. 

The instrument which Professor Lesslie employed in his 
experiment on this highly interesting subject, he terms an 
iEthrioscope (from the Greek word AiOgiocr, which, in reference 
to the atmosphere, signifies at once clear, dry, and cold.) It 
is, in fact, a combination of the ordinary pyr^cope, and is 
formed by adapting that instrument to the cavity of a polished 
metallic cup, of rather an oblong spheroidal shape, the axis 
being occupied by the sentient ball, while the section of a 
horizontal plane, passing through the upper, forms the orifice. 
The cup may be made of thin brass, or silver, either ham- 
mered or cast, and then turned and polished on a lathe, the 
diameter being from two to four inches, and the eccentricity 
of the elliptical figure varied within certain limits, according 
to circumstances ; the most convenient proportion, however, 
is to have this eccentricity equal to half the transverse axis, 
and consequently to place the focus at the third part of the 

D2 



20 M'Keevor's Voyage to Hudson's Bay. 

whole height of the cavity, the diameter of the sentient ball 
being likewise nearly the third part of that of the orifice of 
the cup. In order to separate more the balls of the pyroscope, 
the ffilt one may be carried somewhat higher than the other, 
and lodged in the swell of the cavity, its stem being bent to 
the curve, and the neck partially widened to prevent the risk 
of dividing the coloured liquor in carriage. A lid of the 
same thin unpolished metal as the cup itself, is fitted to the 
mouth of the eethrioscope, and only removed when an obser- 
vation is to be made. The scale may extend to sixty or 
seventy millesimal degrees above the zero, and about fifteen 
degrees below it, Should Mr. L.'s anticipations with regard 
to the utility of this instrument prove to be well grounded, 
it will prove to be a valuable acquisition indeed to every phy- 
sical cabinet. The aethrioscope, remarks this fascinating 
writer, thus opens new scenes to our view. It extends its 
sensation through indefinite space, and reveals the condition 
of the remotest atmosphere. Constructed with still greater 
delicacy, it may, perhaps, scent the distant winds, and detect 
the actual temperature of every quarter of the heavens. The 
impressions of cold which arrive from the north will pro- 
bably be found stronger than those received from the south. 
But the instrument has yet been scarcely tried. We are 
anxious to compare its indications for the course of a whole 
year, and still more solicitous to receive its reports from other 
climates, and brighter skies. — See Supplement to the Ency- 
clopedia Britannica, Articles Climate and Cold. Also, Trans- 
actions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, vol. vii. part ii. 

I have been induced to dwell thus long on the proofs 
which I conceive may be offered in favour of the opinion that 
the surface of the northern seas is annually subjected to the 
process of congellation, as on this single circumstance, in a 
great measure, depends the success of the northern expedition; 
for if these seas are, as I have endeavoured to prove, annually 
exposed to the eternal fluctuation of having their surface 
frozen over, they must for ever present to the intrepid navi- 
gator obstacles altogether insurmountable.* 



* The reason, I conceive, why so large a body of ice has been detached 
from the west coast of Greenland is simply this : In consequence of the 
number of bays, creeks, and inlets, which the coast of Greenland presents, 
ice will very readily be formed, and will, owing to the shelter which the 
land affords, in course of time accumulate to an enormous extent. At 
length, however, from agitation, or from their great weight overcoming the 
pow er of cohesion, the key-stone of the mass gives way ; the icy chains 
which held these frightful masses arc dissolved, and the whole is gradually 
drifted into southern latitudes, 



M'Keevor's Voyage to Hudson's Bay, 21 

Wednesday, July the 21st. A party of us went out on the 
ice for the purpose of amusing ourselves. We had not walked 
far when we discovered several ponds of very fine fresh water. 
Having sent intelligence of this to the captain, he imme- 
diately ordered out some of the men to fill the water-casks. 
It not only tasted very well, but answered admirably for every 
culinary purpose. In some of these ponds we observed a 
small fish, to which they give the name of Miller's Thumbs. 

Thursday, the 22d. Availing ourselves of a fair wind, 
which sprung up this morning, we took in the ice-anchors, 
and set sail in company with our consorts. 

Two o'clock, P. M. Forcing our way through very heavy 
ice, got several very severe knocks. Obliged to keep the 
pumps going day and night. 

Friday, July 23d. Still forcing our way through the ice ; 
wind fair ; weather uncommonly fine. 

Saturday, July 24th. The breeze has nearly died away ; 
weather continues fine. About twelve o'clock we got an- 
chored to an island of ice. Lost sight of the George. Fired 
a gun, which was answered in a few minutes. The captain 
supposes them to be about a league a-head. 

Sunday, 25th. The George having made a signal for get- 
ting* under way, we loosed our anchors, and set sail. In 
about an hour we got up with her. 

This day, while sailing through straggling ice, one of 

the men on the quarter-deck observed, at a few yards distance, 
a silver bear and her two young cubs. The captain imme- 
diately ordered the jolly-boat to be lowered, and muskets, 
pistols, cutlasses, &c. to be "got in readiness. All things 
being prepared, Mr. Fidler, Mr. Cockerell, the first mate, 
with one or two more, set out in pursuit of them. We were 
all leaning over the deck, waiting with the greatest anxiety 
for the interesting- scene that we expected to witness. They 
had not got many yards from the vessel, when I beheld a very 
affecting sight : the mother, observing their approach, and 
aware of their intention, set up a most doleful cry, and pre- 
sently clasped her two young ones within her two fore-paws. 
First she would look at one, then at another, and again resume 
her piteous cry. Perceiving the men to approach still nearer, 
she got them on her back, and dived under water to a consi- 
derable distance ; when exhausted, she made to the ice for 
shelter. This she did several successive times. The gen- 
tlemen who went out for the purpose of shooting her, were 
so justly affected at the sight, that they humanely returned to 
the ship without discharging their muskets. Still, however, 



22 M'Keevor's Voyage to Hudson's Bay. 

the poor bear apprehended danger. After getting on a de- 
tached piece of ice, she again clasped her young ones with 
the greatest tenderness, and continued her heart-melting cries! 
In about ten minutes, another party,* not subject to the same 
correct sensibility as the former, went in pursuit of her. Im- 
mediately on observing this, she again took her young on her 
back ; one time, getting under water, at another, escaping to 
the ice for refuge. When the party had got within a snort 
distance of her, they all fired. The mother, however, had 
covered her young cubs so effectually, that she alone was 
wounded; one of the balls entered her chest. The scene 
that followed was, if possible, still more affecting than that 
we had already witnessed. 

Though mortally wounded, she retained within her fond 
embraces her tender young. It looked as though the iron 
grasp of death could not tear asunder those ties of affection 
which bound her to them. Still she would fondly gaze at 
one, then at another, occasionally renewing her piteous cries, 
which had now become much more feeble. But the purple 
current of life was ebbing fast through the wound : her sides 
heaved — her eye became glassy and dim — she looked at her 
young ones — gave a convulsive sob — -laid down her head, and 
expired ! f 

After this, they had no difficulty in taking the young cubs. 
They in vain, however, endeavoured to loose them from their 
parent's embraces. Even while dragging her up the side or 
the vessel, they still kept their hold. When they had got her 
on board, she was immediately skinned. { When the skin 
was removed, they put it into the cage which had been pre- 
pared for the young cubs. As they roared most hideously 
from the time they were torn from the mother, we were in hopes 
that this might pacify them; and it did so : it was no sooner 
introduced, than they laid their heads down on it, and growled 
in a very affecting manner. When any one attempted to 
touch it, they roared very loud, and appeared much more irrit- 

* It might be added, of monsters in the shape of men, or human savages! 
— Editor. 

■f The monsters engaged in this transaction merit the torments of the 
damned— the curses of men— and the vengeance of an insulted Deity.— 
Editor. 

J On examining the wound, I found the ball had passed through the arch 
of the aorta, and had lodged in the intercostal muscles of the opposite side. 
I cut out the parts, and immersed them in a bottle tilled with spirits; but 
one of the crew, an unfortunate Irishman, got hold of it in some way 01 
other, and being fonder of whiskey than morbid anatomy, drank the fluid 
in which I had them preserved, and thus spoiled my preparation. 



M'Keefbor's Voyage to Hudson's Bay. 23 

able than usual. They were brought home, and sold in 
London at a very high price.* 

When detached from its young, how very different is the 
character of the polar bear from that 1 have just described. 
It is then a most formidable animal, being apparently the 
natural lord of those frozen regions. Every other animal 
shudders at his approach, considering it as the signal for im- 
mediate destruction. The seals either retire to their subma- 
rine dwellings, or conceal themselves in the crevices of the 
ice-islands ; while the bear, stalking along with solemn ma- 
jesty, " faces the breeze, raises his head, and snuffs the pas- 
sing scent, whereby he discovers the nearest route to his 
odorous banquet." A favourite poet, with great truth and 
beauty, thus describes the march of this formidable animal :— • 

*' There, through the piny forest, half absorbed, 
Rough tenant of those shades, the shapeless bear, 
With dangling ice, all horrid, stalks forlorn ; 
Slow-paced, and sourer as the storms increase, 
He makes his bed beneath the inclement drift, 
Ami with stern patience, scorning weak complaint, 
Hardens Ins heart against assailing want." 

They are possessed of such uncommon strength, and de- 
fend themselves, when beset, with such extraordinary ob- 
stinacy, that even the natives of the country never venture 
to attack them but in parties of eight or ten, and even then 
are often defeated with the loss of one or more of their num- 
ber. Though to a skilful rifleman the danger is very much 
diminished, the bear is still an animal of tremendous strength 
and fierceness, as will appear from the following adventure. — 
Captain Lewis tells us, that one evening the men in the hind- 
most of the canoes discovered a large silver bear lying in the 
open grounds, about 300 paces from the river. Six of them, 
all good hunters, set out to attack him, and concealing them- 
selves by a small eminence, came unperceived within forty 
paces of him. Four of them now fired, and each lodged a 
ball in his body ; two of them directly through the lungs. 
The justly-enraged animal sprung up, and ran open-mouthed 

* The great attachment which the she-bear has for her young, is well 
known to the American hunter. No danger can induce her to abandon 
them. Even when they are sufficiently grown to be able to climb a tree, 
her anxiety for their safety is but little diminished. At that time, if hunted, 
her first care is to make her young climb to a place of safety. If they shew 
any reluctance, she beats them, and having succeeded, turns fearlessly on 
her pursuers. Perhaps, in the animal economy, maternal affection is almost 
always commensurate with the helplessness of the young. 

See Bradbury's Travels in America. 



24 M'Keevor's Voyage to Hudson's Bay. 

at them. As he came near, the two hunters who had reserved 
their fire gave him two wounds, one of which breaking* his 
shoulder, retarded his motion for a moment ; but before they 
could reload he was so near that they were obliged to run to 
the river, and before they reached it he had almost overtaken 
them. Two jumped into the canoe, the other four separated, 
and concealing themselves in the willows, fired as fast as each 
could load. They struck him several times, but they only 
exasperated him ; and he at last pursued two of them so 
closely, that they jumped down a perpendicular bank of 
twenty feet into the river; the bear sprang after them, and 
was within a few feet of the hindmost, when one of the hunters 
on shore shot him in the head, and killed him. They dragged 
him to the shore, and found that eight balls had passed through 
his body in different directions. 

Barentz, in his voyage in search of a north-east passage to 
China, had melancholy proofs of the ferocity of these animals 
in the island of Nova Zembla, where they attacked his men, 
seizing them in their mouths, carrying them off', and devour- 
ing them in sight of their comrades. " On the 6th of Sep- 
tember," observes this interesting writer,* " some sailors again 
landed to seek for a certain sort of stone, a species of dia- 
mond, of which a sufficient quantity is also found in the Isle 
of Slates. During this search, two of the sailors, sleeping by 
one another, a white bear, very lean, approached them softly, 
and seized one by the nape of the neck. The sailor, not 
knowing what it was, cried out, ' Who has seized me thus 
behind V His companion, having raised his head, said, ' Hol- 
loa ! my dear friend, it is a bear !' and immediately rising, 
ran away. The bear bit the unfortunate man in several parts 
of the head, and having quite mangled it, sucked the blood. 
The rest of the persons who were on shore, to the number of 
twenty, immediately ran with their firelocks and pikes, and 
found the bear devouring the body. On seeing the men, he 
ran towards them with incredible fury, threw himself upon 
one of them, carried him away, and tore him to pieces, which 
so terrified them that they all fled. Those who remained in 
the vessel, seeing them thus flee, and return towards the shore, 
jumped into the boats, and rowed with all their force to re- 
ceive them. When they had landed, and )beheld this lament- 
able spectacle, they encouraged the others to return with them 
to the combat, that all together they might attack this fero- 
cious animal. Three of them advanced a little, the bear still 
continuing to devour his prey, without being at all disturbed 
at the sight of thirty men so near him. The two pilots having 
fired three times without hitting the animal, the purser ad- 



M'Keevofs Voyage to Hudson's Bay. 25 

vanced a little further, and shot the bear in the head, close 
by the eye, which did not cause him to quit his prey ; but 
holding the body always by the neck, which he was devour- 
ing, carried it away as yet almost quite entire. Nevertheless, 
they then perceived that he began to totter ; and the purser 
going towards him, with a Scotchman, they gave him several 
sabre wounds, without his abandoning his prey. At length 
the pilot Geyser, having given him a violent blow with 
the butt-end of his firelock on the muzzle, which brought 
him to the ground, the purser leaped upon him, and cut 
his throat. The two bodies, half devoured, were interred in 
the Isle of the Slates, and the skin of the bear was carried 
to Amsterdam." 

Frequently they attack, and even attempt to board armed 
vessels, at a great distance from the shore, and are sometimes 
repelled with great difficulty. While on land they prey on 
foxes, hares, martins, and young birds ; they also eat various 
kinds of berries, which they may chance to find while ranging 
through the trackless desert. During these excursions they 
not unfrequently enter the habitations of the natives, and 
carry off one of the party, Mr. Howes, one of the inland go- 
vernors, mentioned to me, that one evening he and his compa- 
nions were sitting in their wigwam enjoying a social hour 
after a hard day's hunting, when, on a sudden, they found one 
of their party to disappear. A white bear had, in fact, carried 
him off by the skirts of his coat. They all immediately sallied 
out in pursuit of him, which, when the bear observed, he in- 
stantly dropped his, prey and made off into the woods. It is 
said that the best mode of repelling them, on these occasions, 
is by the smell of burnt feathers. During the summer months, 
being allured by the scent of the carcases of whales, seals, &c. 
they venture out on the ice. They have been seen on some 
of those islands at the distance of more than eighty miles from 
land, preying and feeding as they float along. During the 
winter they retire and immerse themselves deep beneath the 
snow ; here they pass the long and dreary arctic winter, and 
do not again appear until the return of spring. 

The whole animal is white except the point of the nose, and 
the claws, which are of a deep black colour; the ears are 
rather small and sharp ; the eyes small and of a deep jet-black. 
The following are its generic characters, as given by Professor 
Jamieson, in his Lectures on Natural History, in the Univer- 
sity of Edinburgh. 

Front Teeth. Six both above and below ; the two lateral 
ones of the lower-jaw longer than the rest, and lobed, with 
small or secondary teeth at their internal base. 

Voyages and Travels, No. 2. Vol. H. E 



20 M'Keevor's Voyage to Hudson* s Bay, 

Canine teeth, ... solitary. 

Grinders, five or six on each side, the first approx- 
imated to the canine teeth. 

Tongue - smooth. 

Snout - - - - prominent. 

Eyes furnished with a militating- membrane. 
The hair is of a great length, and the limbs are of an enor- 
mous size, and of a very unseemly shape. I have tasted the 
flesh of the one we killed, and think it by no means bad eating; 
it had, however, rather a fishy taste. The paw, when dried 
and smoked, is considered a delicious morsel. Among the 
Chinese the flesh is considered as one of the greatest rarities, 
insomuch, that, as Du Halde informs us, the emperor will 
send fifty or a hundred leagues into Tartary to procure them 
for a great entertainment. At the approach of winter they be- 
come extremely fat ; a hundred pounds have been taken from 
a single beast at this time of the year. Their skins are used 
for a variety of purposes. By the Esquimeaux they are used 
for the purpose of making boots, shoes, and other articles of 
dress. In this country they are sold principally for covers of 
coach-boxes. The length of the one, whose history I have 
related, measured thirteen feet. The tendons, when split, 
are used by the Esquimeaux as a substitute for thread ; for 
which purpose, if we might judge by the neatness of their work- 
manship, it answers admirably. They appear to be confined to 
the coldest parts of our globe, being found as far north as any 
navigators have yet been able to penetrate. 

July the 28th, we continued to force our way through the 
ice; weather uncommonly fine; atmosphere quite clear, and 
of a pure azure tint. 

July 29th. This day, about two o'clock P.M., we first 
got sight of Upper Savage Island, situated in N. lat. 62°. 25>'» 
W. long. 70'. 

This island is about two miles in circumference, and con- 
sists merely of a vast lofty perpendicular rock, rising like a 
cone, in an easy ascent from the sea. It had not the least ap- 
pearance of verdure, or vegetation of any kind. 

On the back part of this island we met with a large commo- 
dious harbour, surrounded in part by vast mountains and 
numerous fields of ice. We expected to get a passage in this 
direction ; but, after tacking about between land and ice the 
entire night, we were obliged to give up the attempt. 

This is the bay to which Captain Wales, in his interesting 
account of these regions, alludes : " It may," he says, " be 
worthy of remark, that the island of God's Mercies; or, as 
some call it, Upper Savage Island, lies in the mouth of an 



M'Keevors Voyage to Hud&on's Bay. 27 

inlet running northward, out of which come the greater part 
of those islands of ice which are so much taken notice of in 
these parts." 

I have been told by gentlemen in the Hudson's Bay Com- 
pany's service, that some of their ships have formerly been 
driven by the ice into this inlet, where they found a fine open 
sea, without any bounds, that they could see, to the north- 
ward. This inlet, Captain Wales calls the North Bay. 

July 31st. The weather continues remarkably fine and 
clear ; thermometer in the shade 49*. Moored alongside a 
field of ice. 

August 1st. This day, about ten o'clock A. M., we got 
sight of the north shore, distant about ten leagues. The 
whole of this coast exhibited a very barren appearance ; the 
mountains rising suddenly out of the sea, and being composed 
of rocks, which are thinly covered with black peat earth. 

Several fires were kindled along the shore, for the purpose, we 
presumed, of giving us notice that the natives intended visit- 
ing us. Our conjectures we soon found to be true, for, about 
four o'clock in the afternoon, word was brought down to the 
cabin that the Esquimeaux Indians were in sight. This be- 
ing an event long and anxiously wished for, we all hastened 
on deck immediately. They were not more than thirty yards 
from the ship. The ice being very thick, they were obliged 
to carry their canoes and articles for traffic almost the entire 
way. When they had sot within a short distance of the vessel, 
they all set up a loud cry, every one repeating the word 
chimo, chimo,* which, in their language, signifies trade. 
They had no sooner got along-side than they began to traffic. 
The articles which they offered for sale were — whalebone, 
bags of blubber, with half-frozen, half-putrid flesh ; skins of 
different animals, as of the bear, rabbit, hare, seal, and deer ; 
dried salmon, dogs, a few fresh fowls ; toys of various kinds, 
as models of their canoes, dresses, &c. 

In return they got glass beads, old knives, hatchets, but- 
tons, pins, aud needles ; gimblets, scissars, pieces of old iron- 
hoops, which they prized very highly ; brass-rings, tin-pots, 
kettles, saws, files, &c. 

It would be difficult to give expression to the feelings of 
gratification, delight, and surprise, which, in hurried succes- 
sion, passed through my mind on first getting a view of 
these untutored savages ; their manners, persons, dress, lan- 
guage, every thing, in short, so completely different from what 



* The word chiiuo is also made use of as a term of friendship. 
E2 



28 M'Keevor's Voyage to Hudson's Bay. 

we are accustomed to in civilized life, that one would almost 
fancy them the natives of a different planet altogether. 

In stature the Esquimeaux is inferior to the generality of Eu- 
ropeans. I have never seen any of them exceed five feet in 
height, excepting one,whowas five feet four inches. Their faces 
are broad, and approach more to the rounded form than that of 
the European; their cheek-bones are high; their cheeks round 
and plump, mouth large, and lips slightly everted ; the glabella, 
or interval between the eyes, is flat and very broad ; the nose is 
small, but not flat, as some writers have described ; their eyes, 
in general, are of a deep black ; some, however, are of a dark 
chesnut-colour ; they appear very small, owing to the eye-lids 
being so much encumbered with fat ; the head is large ; hair 
uniformly long, lank, and of a black colour; their eye-lids 
appeared tender, owing, I suppose, to the piercing winds and 
strong glare of light reflected from the snow in winter-time ; 
the ears are situated far back on the head, and are moveable ; 
their bodies are large, square, and robust, chest high, shoul- 
ders very broad ; their hands and feet remarkably small ;* 
there is, however, no sudden diminution ; both extremities 
appear to taper from above, downwards in a wedge-like shape. 
Their boots and shoes being made of undressed leather, being 
also very clumsy, I did not for some time take particular no- 
tice of their feet. I happened, however, to observe one of the 
men on the quarter-deck endeavouring to draw on a pair of 
boots, which he had just purchased from the man whose mea- 
surement I have given ; the leg passed on easy enough until 
it came to the lower part, when it was suddenly arrested, nor 
could he force it further, though he tugged and pulled at it 
for a considerable time. They are of a deep tawney, or rather 
copper-coloured complexion. The assertion that they have 
got no beard must be treated as an idle tale ; the fact is, it no 
sooner appears than, from motives of comfort, and, perhaps, of 
cleanliness, they pluck it out by the root, having no more 
convenient way of removing it I recollect bringing one of 
the young men, whose beard was just beginning to make its 
appearance, down to the cabin, and showing him the mode of 
using a razor : the poor fellow appeared highly delighted ; he 
placed himself before a glass, and really imitated the process 
of shaving very well ; however, he nicked himself in two or 
three places, at which he laughed very heartily. I did not 
remark that difference of voice in the young and adult, which 



* Small hands and feet they possess in common with the Chinese, Kams- 
chatkans, New Hollanders, Peruvians, and Hottentots. 



M'Keevor's Voyage to Hudson's Bay. 



29 



is so very remarkable in these countries ; males and females, 
young and old, had all the same low, husky, whispering kind 
of voice.* 

I shall here give a few words of their language, which I 
occasionally wrote down during their visits to us. 



Whalebone 
What's this 
A knife 
Water 
Give us 
Women 
Blubber - 
A paddle - 
Go off 
A saw 
An arrow 
A bow 
A canoe - 
A boat 
A dog- 
Hair 

The foot - 
An egg - 



Sukok. 

Oomena. 

Mukmamuk. 

Emik. 

Pel he. 

Challeneer. 

Tuktoo. 

Poatik. 

Twa wi. 

Kutaswabbo. 

Katso. 

Petiksik. 

Porta vinigar. 

Kajak. 

Mike. 

Nootshad. 

Itikak. 

MinmVuk. 



* This hoarse, whispering kind of voice was very observable in the young 
Esquimeaux who was at Edinburgh last year; though he had been, when I 
saw him, near eight months in the country, he still spoke, in ordinary con- 
versation, as if he were whispering. He was a very fine young man, aged 
about nineteen, and had been a widower for a considerable time. It was 
surprising to see how soon he adopted the European customs : when shewn 
into a room, he bowed very gracefully, and was very mild and tractable in 
his manners. This poor fellow had been drifted out to sea in his canoe near 
a hundred miles, when he fortunately met with one of the homeward-bound 
Greenland ships, which took him up. 1 saw him exhibit several times while 
he remained at Leith ; one day, in particular, the whole population of the 
country appeared assembled for the purpose of witnessing this interesting 
sight. The shore for a considerable distance, the shrouds of every vessel, 
•the tops of all the houses, were actually swarming with people. He was 
this day to row in his canoe against a twelve-oared galley. At a given 
signal they started : in a few seconds, however, though the brawny Scotch- 
men rowed with all their might, the Esquimeaux was several yards before 
them. After getting on a considerable distance, having made all things 
tight, he capsised himself in his canoe, and appeared at the opposite side. 
He then waited until his almost exhausted competitors came up to him, and 
again flew along with the swiftness of an arrow. In this way he went on for 
near two hours. At the close of the contest a subscription, to a very large 
amount, was made for him, with which the captain purchased several articles 
of wearing apparel, as also a number of hatchets, saws, tin-pots, &c. to 
bring over with him as presents to his countrymen. 



30 M'Keevor's Voyage to Hudson's Bay. 

The eye - Killik. 

A tooth - Ukak. 

One .... Kombuk. 

Two - - . ■ . Tigal. 

Three - - - - Ke. 
Rum (this word properly signifies mad water) Killaluk. 

The head - Niakok. 

The moon - Takok. 

A rein-deer - Tuktoo. 

A woman's boat - - Oomiak." 
The dresses of this singular people are very curious ; and, 
considering the rude instruments with which they are manu- 
factured, of uncommon neatness. They are made of the 
skins of the rein-deer, seals, and birds. The outer garment re- 
sembles somewhat a waggoner's smock-frock ; it is not, how- 
ever, so long or so loose ; it is sewed up in the front as high as 
the chin. To the top part a cap or hood is fastened, resembling- 
very much the heaa of the cloaks now so much used in these 
countries ; in cold or wet weather they draw this over their 
heads, and by means of a running string, they can make it 
lie as close to the face as they choose. The women's jackets 
differ somewhat from those of the men ; the hood is much 
larger, and the bottom, instead of being cut even round like 
the men's, slopes off from the thigh downwards, forming, 
both behind and before, a long flap, the pointed extremity of 
which reaches below the knees. Many of the women had a 
train to their jackets sufficiently long to reach to their heels. 
The women's jackets also differ from those of the men in be- 
ing more profusely ornamented with stripes of different coloured 
skins, which are inserted in a very neat and tasty manner. 
This outer garment is most usually made of seal-skins; some 
of them, however, are made of deer-skins ; others of bird's- 
skins, neatly sewed together. A few of them, I observed, 
wore under their outer-jacket a kind of garment not unlike a 
shirt, and consisting of a number of seal's bladders sewed to- 
gether. Their breeches are formed either of seal-skin or of 
the thin-haired skins of the rein-deer ; they are gathered at 
top like a purse, and tied round their waists. Their boots 
and shoes are formed of the same materials, and are soled with 
the skin of the sea-horse. The men's boots are drawn tight 
about their knees by means of a running-string ; their shoes 
are made to tie in close to the ankle by the same contrivance. 
The women's boots are made to come up as high as the hips ; 
they are at this part very wide, and made to stand off by means 
of a strong bow of whalebone passed round the top. Into 
these they put the children when tired with carrying them on 



M'Keevor's Voyage to Hudson* s Bay. 31 

their backs. In place of thread they make use of the sinews 
of the rein-deer, the fibres of which they split very fine, and 
afterwards twist them in double or triple plies, according as 
they are required. Their needles are made either of ivory, or 
of the very fine bones of birds and fishes. A few of them, 
however, have got steel needles. 

For the purpose of guarding off the intense light reflected 
from the snow, they make use of a very ingenious kind of 
spectacles, or snow-eyes, as they call them. They are formed 
from one solid piece of wood, and are excavated on the inside 
for the purpose of receiving the bridge of the nose and pro- 
jecting part of the eye-ball. Opposite to either eye is a narrow 
transverse slit, about an inch and a half long. In front they 
are sloped off on either side at an oblique angle. At top there 
is a small horizontal ledge, which projects out for about an 
inch. They are tied behind by means of a slip of seal-skin, 
which is attached to either extremity of the wood.* The one 
that I have got in my possession measures about four inches 
in length and two in breadth. Mr. Ellis asserts, that when 
they would observe any object at a great distance, they com- 
monly look through them as we do through a telescope. 

Their canoes are deserving of particular attention, as well 
from the peculiarity of their form as for their neatness, and 
even elegance with which they are constructed. They are in ge- 
neral about twenty feet long, two feet broad at the widest part, 
and of an oblong shape. The frame-work is made of pieces of 
wood or whalebone, fastened together by means of the sinews 
of animals ; they are covered with seal-skin parchment all 
over, with the exception of a central aperture, which is left 
large enough to admit the body of a man ; into this the Esqui- 
raeaux thrusts himself up to the waist, his feet being stretched 
forward. To the central opening a flat hoop is fitted, rising 
about a couple of inches ; to this a skin is attached, which he 
fastens so tight about him as to exclude all wet ; the rim also 
serves the purpose of preventing any water, which may have 
lodged on the deck, from getting into the canoe. The paddle 
of the Equimeaux is about ten feet long; narrow in the centre; 
broad and flat at either extremity : when seated in his canoe 



* De Paw gives the following description of this curious contrivance — 
" Le danger d'etre aveugles par la neige, a encore enseigne aux Eski- 
maux a se servir d'une espece de lunettes qu'ils portent tout Fete sur les 
yeux, ces sont deux planches minces, percees en deux endroits avec une 
alene ou une arrete de poisson de sorte qu'il n'y a qu'une tres-petite ouver- 
ture pour le passage de la lumiere ; cet instrument qu'on attache derriere la 
t£te a\e« un boyau de phocas, &c— Vid, De Paw sur les Americans. 



32 M'Keevor's Voyage to Hudson's Bay. 

he takes hold of it by the centre, dips either end in the water 
alternately, and thus he moves with incredible celerity; so 
great, indeed, that an English boat, with twelve oars, is not 
able to keep up with him.* The broad flat part is generally 
inlaid, in a very tasty and fanciful manner, with portions of 
sea-horse teeth, cut into a variety of forms. 

The dexterity with which they manage these canoes is really 
astonishing. No weather can prevent thein from going out to 
sea ; they venture out in the midst of tempestuous whirlwinds, 
and driving snows, with as much composure as if it were a 
perfect calm. Even though the sea should break over them, 
in an instant they are again seen flying along the ridge of the 
wave. 

But what appears still more extraordinary, is the power 
they possess of completely upsetting themselves in their canoes, 
so as to hang perpendicularly under the water. I shall relate 
an instance of this. Captain Turner was one day standing- on 
the quarter-deck while the Indians were along-side trading ; 
he observed at some distance an Esquimeaux paddling up and 
down, as if for amusement : having made a sign to him to 
come over, he told him he would give him a knife and a few 
needles, in case he would capsise himself in his canoe. The 
Indian immediately made tight all his running-strings, lapped 
some skins about his body, and having thus secured himself 
from the water entering-, he looked at Captain Turner with a 
very significant air ; he then inclined his body towards the 
surface of the water, and instantly dipped down ; here he re- 
mained suspended for a few seconds, when he appeared at the 
opposite side in his former upright position. This he did 
three successive times. When he had done, he shook himself, 
laughed very heartily, and, after getting his knife and needles, 
paddled off. 

The value which they set on their canoes is, as we might 
naturally, suppose, very great ; indeed, they will very rarely 
part with them, unless they get in exchange a considerable 
number of valuable articles, such as a tin-pot, a kettle, a saw, 
and perhaps a few gimblets. Captain Turner purchased one 
of the neatest I think I have ever seen : it was quite new, and 
was very beautifully ornamented. The hoop which surrounds 
the central aperture, instead of wood, was made of highly- 
polished ivory. The workmanship on the extremity of the pad- 
dle was exquisite. Before the owner parted with it he paddled 
up to an elderly man at some distance, whom, the captain told us, 



* See page 29. 



M i Keevor 1 s Voyage to Hudson's Bay. 33 

was his father; which, indeed, we had conjectured, as well from 
his aged appearance as from the great respect this young man 
appeared to pay to him. After deliberating for some time he 
returned, and told Mr. Turner he should have the canoe, and im- 
mediately set about emptying it of its contents. The articles 
which he took out he put into his father's; and having given it 
up to the captain, he stretched himself quite flat behind his pa- 
rent, covering his face with his hands ; here he lay quite com- 
posed, without the smallest motion. The father having received 
his tin-pot, kettle, hatchet, and a couple of files, rowed off. 
The day following we heard that this poor fellow had slipped 
off from behind bis father while on their way to shore, and 
was drowned. 

The avidity of these poor people for traffic, exceeded any 
thing I could have had an idea of. 31 any of them, after parting 
with all their goods, stripped themselves almost naked, and be- 
gan to dispose of their clothes for the merest trifles. One man 
gave a very beautiful seal -skin jacket for an old rusty knife. 
Another parted with his breeches and boots for a file and a 
few needles. Another with a complete suit of clothes for a 
saw and a few pieces of old iron. At length, thinking they 
had exhausted our entire stock of hardware, they began to 
barter with the ship's crew for their old clothes. It frequently 
afforded us a humorous sight to see those poor creatures dis- 
posing of their whole and comfortable, though rudely-formed 
garments, for a seaman's old working-jacket, or perhaps for 
an old checked shirt, through the numerous rents and aper- 
tures of which their copper-coloured skins here and there made 
its appearance. They generally paddled away in a great 
hurry, after completing the J^argain, fearing lest the purchaser 
might possibly repent ; an apprehension which I could assure 
them was quite groundless. One of them purchased an old 
red night-cap from the cook, and having adjusted it on his 
head, he looked at himself in a glass, and laughed most im- 
moderately. 

Several of them had bags of blubber, mixed with half- 
putrid half-frozen flesh ; these they offered for sale with great 
eagerness, and appeared very much surprised that they got no 
purchasers. Being anxious to examine their contents, I was 
induced to buy one ; on opening it, however, such a shocking 
stench proceeded from it, that I very cheerfully restored it to 
the original possessor. I had no sooner returned it to him, 
than applying the open extremity to his mouth, took a drink 
from it, licked his lips, and laid it aside very carefully. Others 
had raw seal's-flesh, which they also seemed to consider a 
great luxury. I have frequently seen them take out a piece, 

Voyages and Travels, No. 2. Vol. IT. F 



34 M'fceevor's Voyage to Hudson 9 s Bay. 

eat a portion of it, and, when done, lick their fingers and lips, 
as if they had been feeding oil the fragments of some sump- 
tuous banquet. 

In consequence of the great number of canoes that were 
alongside the ship (no less than forty), they frequently tilted 
against each other; when this happened, they did not appear at 
all irritated, but rowed aside with the greatest good-humour. 
A few of them made off without giving any thing in return 
for the articles they had got from us ; the rest did not appear 
to notice it, nor did they at all interfere.* After paddling 
away a few yards from the ship, they generally turned about 
and laughed very heartily at those whom they had thus tricked. 
When disappointed in any article which they expected to get, 
they appeared very much irritated. 

I recollect seeing on the canoe of one of the men an appa- 
rently very nice skin ; I immediately held up a file to the 
Indian, and then pointed to the skin, thus intimating that I 
wished to exchange with him. On close examination, how- 
ever, I found that it was completely rotten, and all over in 
holes, and signified to him that I did not think it sufficient 
value for the file. He immediately took up his paddle, and 
winding it round his head, made a desperate blow at me, the 
full benefit of which I should have received, but for the cele- 
rity with which I made up the gang-way. 

Several of the men had bows and arrows ; they could not, 
however, be induced to part with them, owing, as the captain 
supposed, to their being then at war with some neighbouring 
tribe of Indians. 

During the first day, we were not visited by any of the 
women ; the following* morning, however, about ten o'clock, 
a large boatful came alongside, and in about an hour after- 
wards several others. The women's boat, or umiak, as they 
term it, differs very much in form from that of the men, being 
entirely open at top, and so large as to be capable of carrying 
thirty or forty persons. They are made of the same materials 
as those of the men. In the first boat that arrived there were 
about twenty women, and the same number of children. At 
the stern of it I observed an aged infirm old woman, with a 
thoughtful melancholy countenance ; there was also some- 
thing wild and unsettled in her looks. A highly-polished 
plate of brass surrounded her forehead, somewhat like a co- 
ronet ; her hair was collected into small bobs, by means of 
the sinews of animals, and from each was suspended the tooth 

* This, however, arose a good deal, I fancy, from their companions being 
so much occupied in trading. 



M'Keevor's Voyage to Hudson's Bay. S5 

of some land-animal. In other respects her dress was like 
that of the rest : she appeared to have the command of the 
entire, as none of them bartered, even the most trifling- article, 
without first asking her permission. I uniformly observed 
that men and women, when they had gotten any thing in ex- 
change, immediately commenced licking it, to intimate, as I 
afterwards learned, that it was then their property. While 
trading with the women, I had an opportunity of observing 
how far they were from despising all sort of authority ; they 
all appeared attentive to the voice of wisdom, which time and 
experience had conferred on the aged. It is age which teaches 
experience, and experience is the only source of knowledge 
amongst a barbarous people. I remarked that several of the 
mothers pointed repeatedly to the children's heads, as I sup- 
posed for the purpose of selling them ; in this, however, I 
was quite mistaken, as they have for their children the great- 
est affection, and do not part with them for any consideration. 
I understood afterwards, that it was merely to recommend 
them to my notice, in order that I might give them something. 
The children, most of whom were about nine or ten years old, 
appeared of very lively dispositions, and many of them were 
really very well looking. I did not observe that they repri- 
manded them in any way ; indeed, I am told that this is 
never done. liberty is their darling passion ; it is this which 
makes life supportable, and to it they are ready to sacrifice 
every thing ; their education is directed, therefore, in such 
a manner as to cherish this disposition to the utmost. Reason, 
they say, will guide their children when they come to the use 
of it, and before that time their faults cannot be very consi- 
derable ; but blows, by producing a slavish motive to action, 
might damp their free and martial spirit. 

A few of the women had young children at the breast. I 
recollect one in particular, who, while very busy trading, was 
much annoyed with the crying of her young squaw, about six 
months old, which she had in the hood of her garment. Un- 
willing to be at the trouble of holding it to the breast,* she 
went up to the stern of the boat, where the old woman was 
sitting, and took out a small bag of blubber, applied the open 
extremity to the infant's mouth, and pressing it between her 
thumb and forefinger, she in this way forced a quantity of it 
into the young thing's mouth ; the crying immediately ceased, 
and, in a few minutes, the young savage was fast asleep. 

* I may here remark, that their breasts, though very long and flaccid, are 
by no means of sufficient length to throw over their shoulders, as some have 
asserted. 

F2 



36 M'Keevor's Voyage to Hudson's Bay. 

When the women had disposed of their merchandise, they 
all cried out, " Twa wi, twa wi ;" and then pointed to the 
ship, thus intimating- their wish that we should leave them. 

In the evening about sixty of them, men, women, and 
children, came on board. The women appeared highly de- 
lighted with the dancing, and imitated it very closely. We 
shewed three or four of the men the two bears we had taken 
on the ice. They appeared very much terrified at the sight 
of them, and uttered something which I could not under- 
stand. One of them pointed to his side, where I observed a 
very large scar ; he then made a growling kind of noise, and 
ran away with great speed. I thence concluded that this 
poor fellow had been bit by a bear some time previous. Tea 
being announced, we brought several of them down to the 
cabin, and placed before them wine, rum, sugar, bread, milk, 
and a variety of other things; but they rejected them all with 
the greatest disgust; sugar they appeared to dislike particu- 
larly. Every one of them, \ observed, spit it out, and cleansed 
their mouths after it. 

We happened to have for dinner that day some very nice 
roasted pork, and being anxious to see if they would eat 
of it, I placed a large slice on a plate before one of them ; 
I also laid a knife and fork before him. He appeared to like 
the meat well enough, but his knife and fork he managed very 
badly; for instead of introducing the piece on the fork into 
his mouth, the point of it went off to his cheek, while the hand 
went to his mouth. I was much amused with this singular 
instance of the strong force of habit. The children behaved 
themselves remarkably well. We could not, however, pre- 
vail on them to sit more than a few minutes in one position. 
When placed in a chair, they would look down on either side 
of it, jump up, and run about the cabin. Being anxious to 
hear what the mother would say in case I attempted chastising 
one of them, I began to pull the ears of a very fine boy, 
about twelve years old, who was sitting beside me. The 
mother immediately stood up, and gave me a very fierce angry 
look. Observing that she was much displeased, I immediately 
began to pat him on the head, and gave him a few beads. She 
instantly recovered her good-humour, and cried out, " Chimo, 
chimo." There was only one of them attempted to pilfer. 
Happening to look round rather suddenly, 1 observed one of 
them slipping a silver spoon into his boot. I immediately 
arrested his hand, took the spoon, and shewed it to his com- 
panions. He did not appear at all, ashamed of being de- 
tected, but laughed very heartily. 



M'Keevor's Voyage to Hudson's Bay, 37 

About ten o'clock they left us; the greater part of them made 
towards the shore, to which they were directed by the placid 
light of a full unclouded moon. We gazed after them for a 
considerable time, until at length they were lost in the dark 
and shadowy line of land which lay before us. Those who 
remained about the ship, slept on the ice the entire night, with 
merely the interposition of a few seal-skins. Before retiring 
to rest, I observed them take from their canoes some raw 
sears-flesh and bags of blubber, on which they appeared to 
feast very sumptuously. 

I remarked, that one of them kept watch in turn during 
the entire night ; he walked about on the ice with a harpoon 
in his hand. This I fancy was more from a dread of being 
attacked by the bears, than from any apprehension they had 
of being attacked by the Europeans. A few of us remained 
on deck until a very late hour ; at one time watching every 
motion of our northern friends, at another, gazing with asto- 
nishment and delight on the brilliant and impressive scenery 
with which we were surrounded. While thinking on the 
miserable condition of the squallid inhabitants of this dreary 
inhospitable climate, I was forcibly reminded of the following 
beautiful lines of Cowper : — 

Within the enclosure of your rocks 



Nor herds have ye to boast, nor bleating flocks ; 

No fertilizing streams your fields divide, 

That show, revers'd, the villas on their side : 

No groves have ye ; no cheerful sound of bird, 

Or voice of turtle, in your land is heard ; 

No grateful eglantine regales the smell 

Of those that walk at evening, where you dwell." 

With regard to the diseases to which these poor savages are 
subject, I must be very brief. From personal observation I 
learned but little, and from enquiry still less. I may here remark, 
that I did not observe any appearance whatever of small-pox 
among them; neither had the children or parents any marks 
or deformity of any kind. Indeed, it is said, that they put to 
death those children that are born hunch-backed, blind, or 
defective in any limb ; and, in proof of this, it is advanced, 
that when they have been formed into societies, and that the 
vigilance of their rulers prevents such murders, the number 
of the deformed is greater than in any country in Europe. 
I may remark, however, that this account is denied by very 
respectable authorities. The only diseases which fell under 
my observation, if diseases they could well be called, were the 
affection of the eye-lids, of which I have already spoken ; 
epistaxis, or bleeding from the nose, and hypochondriaris ; the 



38 JlPKeevor's Voyage to Hudson's Bay, 

former of these arising probably from the large quantity of 
animal food which they consume, and from their being so 
constantly in a stooping- posture : it did not appear to give 
them the smallest uneasiness. I have seen the blood trickle 
down very copiously, without their even appearing to notice 
it ; they allowed it quietly to trickle into the mouth, and when 
it took an irregular course down by the angle of the mouth, 
they wiped it away with the cuff of their jacket. Hypochon- 
driaris is a very frequent complaint among them, induced, 
probably, by the physical circumstances of their situation, and 
the long confinement which they are compelled to submit to 
during their long and dreary winter ; yet their general tem- 
perament does not appear to be a melancholic one. I have 
often been struck most forcibly with the vivacity of their dis- 
position, when contrasted with the wretchedness which their 
external condition displayed. The women are said to bear 
but few children. I shall conclude these few remarks, by 
observing, that springs being very rare in their country, the 
water w 7 hich they use is principally supplied by melted snow; 
nevertheless, I have not observed any of those glandular 
swellings which so frequently occur in the Alpine regions of 
Europe and Asia. 

That the Esquimeaux Indians were originally Greenland- 
ers is, I believe, now generally admitted. Indeed, the simi- 
larity of their dress, canoes, paddles, language, &c. must, I 
conceive, remove every shadow of doubt on the subject, 
They principally inhabit the sea-coast, as well for the purpose 
of being convenient to the sea, as that they may avoid the 
North- American Indians, there having long subsisted between 
those two tribes a deadly and implacable hatred. Whenever 
they come to an engagement, the North-American Indian, 
being better armed, and of a more muscular frame, is sure to 
come off victorious. It generally terminates with the mas- 
sacre of the entire party, men, women, and children. Mr. 
Hearne,in his interesting voyage to Coppermine River, giving 
an account of one of those savage scenes which he had wit- 
nessed, relates the following very affecting circumstance: — 
*< My horror," remarks Mr. Hearne, " was much increased, at 
seeing a young girl, seemingly about eighteen years of age, 
killed so near me, that when the first spear was stuck into her 
side, she fell down at my feet, and twisted round my legs, so 
that it was with difficulty I could disengage myself from her 
dying grasp. As two Indian men pursued this unfortunate 
victim, I solicited very hard for her life; but the murderers 
made no reply till they had stuck both their spears through 
her body, and transfixed her to the ground. They then looked 



M'Keevors Voyage to Hudson's Bay, 39 

me sternly in the face, and began to ridicule me, by asking 
if I wanted an Esquimeaux wife ? and paid not the smallest 
regard to the shrieks and agony of the poor wretch who was 
twining round their spears like an eel ! Indeed, after receiv- 
ing much abusive language from them on the occasion, I was 
at length obliged to desire that they would be more expedi- 
tious in dispatching their victim out of her misery, otherwise I 
should be obliged, out of pity, to assist in the friendly office of 
putting an end to the existence of a fellow-creature who was 
so cruelly wounded. On this request being made, one of the 
Indians hastily drew his spear from the place where it was 
first lodged, and pierced it through her breast near the heart. 
The love of life, however, even in this most miserable state, 
was so predominant, that though this might justly be called 
the most merciful act that could be done for the poor crea- 
ture, it seemed to be unwelcome, for, though much exhausted 
by pain and loss of blood, she made several efforts to ward 
off the friendly blow. 3Iy situation, and the horror of my 
mind at beholding this scene of butchery, cannot easily be 
conceived, much less described : though I summed up all the 
fortitude I was master of on the occasion, it was with difficulty 
I could refrain from tears; and I am confident that my features 
must have feelingly expressed how sincerely I was affected 
at the barbarous scene I then witnessed. Even at this mo- 
ment I cannot reflect on the transactions of that horrid day 
without shedding tears." 

Notwithstanding the shocking- persecutions to which these 
poor creatures are exposed, there are no people in all the vast 
variety of climate, of soil, and of civilization, so attached to 
the land of their birth ; affording a striking proof that this 
strong- passion is by no means commensurate with the phy- 
sical advantages of the soil. The contrary, indeed, appears 
to be the fact ; the wretchedness of their condition, and 
dreadful severity of their climate, appearing rather to mul- 
tiply and strengthen those ties of attachment. The few* who 
have been brought or rather forced away to this country, 
though treated in the most kind and tender manner, and 
provided with every comfort, have still sighed after their 
floating mountains, their beloved seals and smoky wigwams. 
No distance, however remote, nor lapse of time, however 



* Les premiers individues de cette nation qu'on ait vus en Europe, y 
avoient ete amene par le navigateur Forbisher, qui presenta, en 1577, trois 
Esquimeaux a la reine Elizabeth : on les promena sur de petits chevaux de 
corse, &c ils servirent pendant quelque jours d'amusement a la populace, tou- 
jonrs avide de spectacle insenses.— De Pan- sur les Americans, vol. i. p. 258. 



40 M'Keevor's Voyage to Hudson's Bay. 

great, appeared capable of eradicating- this strong passion 
from their hearts.* 

But where to find that happiest spot below, 
Who can direct, when all pretend to know? 
The shuddering tenant of the frigid zone 
Boldly proclaims that happy spot his own ; 
Extols the treasures of his stormy seas, 
And his long nights of revelry and ease. 

With regard to their dispositions, were I to judge from what 
I had an opportunity of seeing, I should suppose them to be 
a good-humoured, mild, tractable race of people. Others, 
however, have represented them in a very different light, 
accusing them of cruelty, theft, deceit, and, in short, every 
vice. It is probable, however, that these accounts have been 
received from the North-American Indians, who, as I already 
mentioned, have long been their inveterate enemies. Captain 
Wales, who resided for many years in Hudson's Bay, speak- 
ing of them, says, " I have had, whilst at Churchill, an ex- 
ceedingly good opportunity of learning the dispositions of 
these people, as several of them come almost every year by 
their own free-will to reside at the factory, and can with truth 
aver, that never people less deserved the epithets of ' trea- 
cherous, cruel, fawning, and suspicious ;' the contrary of 
which is remarkably true in every particular. They are open, 
generous, and unsuspecting ; addicted too much, it must be 
owned, to passion ; and too apt to revenge what they think an 
injury, if an opportunity offers at the moment, but are almost 
instantly cool, without requiring any acknowledgment on 
your part (which they account shameful), and, I verily be- 
lieve, never remember the circumstance afterwards. Mr. 
Ellis observes," continues Captain Wales, " that they are apt 
to pilfer from strangers, easily encouraged to a degree of 
boldness, but as easily frightened." Now, I cannot help 
thinking, that he would have conveyed a much better idea of 
them if he had expressed himself thus : They are bold and 
enterprising, even to enthusiasm, whilst there is a probability 
of success crowning their endeavours ; but wise enough to 
desist, when inevitable destruction stares them in the face. 

* They are extremely, I might say obstinately, attached to their own cus- 
toms and manner of living. Some of them, who were taken prisoners by the 
southern Indians, when they were boys, and brought to the factories, and 
there kept several years, have still regretted their absence from their native 
country. One of these, after having been fed on English diet, being present 
when one of the Englishmen was cutting up a seal, from whence the train- 
oil ran very plentifully, licked up what he could save with his hands, and 
said, " Ah! commend me to my own dear country, where I could get my 
belly full of this."— Ellis s Voyage, to Hudson's Bay, p. 63. 



M'Keevors Voyage to Hudson's Bay 4 41 

Of their religious opinions I have been able to learn but 
little. Our imperfect acquaintance with their language ; their 
avidity for traffic, which was so great as to prevent their 
attending* to any enquiries on such matters ; these, together 
with the shortness of our stay among' them, rendered it very 
difficult to ascertain any thing of a satisfactory nature on that 
subject. Some have very foolishly supposed that they adored 
a small figure resembling a bear, and made from the tooth of 
the sea-horse : it is, however, merely intended as a kind of 
amusement during their long and tedious winter-evenings. 
From the body, which is perforated with a number of small 
holes, hangs a slender piece of stick, pointed ; and, on this, 
they endeavour to catch the bear, just in the same way as the 
cup and ball is used by the boys of this country. 

The following conversation, which is related by the accu- 
rate historian Crantz, to have passed between a converted 
Greenlander and one of the Moravian missionaries, will pro- 
bably afford a better idea of their religious sentiments than 
any account I could give. The missionary having expressed 
his wonder how they could formerly lead such a senseless life, 
void of all reflection, one of them answered as follows : " It is 
true we were ignorant heathens, and knew nothing of a God or 
a Saviour ; and, indeed, who should tell us of him, till you 
came? — But thou must not imagine, that no Greenlander 
thinks about these things. I, myself, have often thought a 
kajak (boat), with all its tackle and implements, does not grow 
into existence of itself; but must be made by the labour and 
ingenuity of man, and one that does not understand it would 
directly spoil it. Now, the meanest, bird has far more skill 
displayed in its structure than the best kajak, and no man can 
make a bird. But there is a still far greater art shown in the 
formation of a man than of any other creature. Who was it 
that made him? I bethought me, he proceeded from his pa- 
rents, and they from their parents. But some must have been 
the first parents: whence did they come? Common report 
informs me they grew out of the earth. But if so, why does 
it not still happen that men grow out of the earth? And from 
whence did this same earth itself, the sea, the sun, the moon, 
and stars, rise into existence? Certainly there must be some 
Being who made all these things — a Being that always was, 
and can never cease to be. He must be inexpressibly more 
mighty, knowing, and wise, than the wisest man. He must 
be very good too; because, every thing that he has made is 
good, useful, and necessary for us. Ah ! did I but know him, 
how would T love him and honour him ! But who has seen 
him? Who has conversed with him? — none of us poor men. 
Voyages and Travels, No. 2. Vol. II. G 



42 M'Keevor's Voyage to Hudson's Bay. 

Yet there may be men too that know something of him. Oh! 
could I but speak with such ! Therefore, (said he) as soon 
as ever I heard you speak of this Great Being, I believed it 
directly with all my heart, because I had so long desired it." 
They all believe in a future state, but differ very much with 
regard to its nature and situation. In general, they ima- 
gine it to be a better state than this temporal life, and that it 
will never end. As they procure the greater part of their 
food from the bosom of the sea, therefore many of them place 
their Elysium in the abysses of the ocean, or bowels of the 
earth, and think the deep cavities of the rocks are the avenues 
leading to it. There, they imagine, dwells a Tonjarink and 
hip mother; there a joyous summer is perpetual, and a shining 
sun obscured by no night; there is the fair limpid stream, 
and an exuberance of fowls, fishes, and their beloved seals, and 
these are all to be caught without toil ; nay, they are even 
found in a great kettle ready drest. But to these places none 
must approach, except those that have been dextrous and dili- 
gent at their work ; that have performed great exploits, have 
mastered many whales and seals, have undergone great hard- 
ships, have beep drowned in the sea, or died in childbed. 

In reviewing the manners of these untutored Indians, some 
few particulars excepted, we are presented with an interesting- 
view of primeval happiness, arising chiefly from the fewness 
of their wants, and their universal equality. The latter de- 
stroys all distinction among them, except those of age and 
personal merit, and promotes the ease, harmony, and freedom 
of their mutual conversation and intercourse. This facilitates 
the happiness of the Indian lover, who finds no obstacles to 
the fruition of his desires, from inequality of rank or fortune, 
or from the views which ambition or envy inspire ; and this 
annihilates all envy and discontent. But the advantages re- 
sulting from the paucity and simplicity of their desires, contri- 
bute to their felicity in a more eminent degree. Those who 
have been unhappily familiarised to all the various refinements 
of luxury and effeminacy which attend the great, and whose 
deluded imaginations esteem them essential to happiness, will 
hardly believe, that an Indian, without any other covering but 
what an undressed seal-skin affords, with a shelter which can- 
not deserve the name of a house, and a few culinary and 
domestic utensils, could form any pretensions to happiness; and 
yet, if I may be allowed to judge, from external appearances, 
the happiness of these people may justly be envied, even by 
the wealthy of the most refined countries; as their happy ig- 
norance of those extravagant desires and endless pursuits 
which agitate the great luxurious world, excludes every wish 



M'Keevor's Voyage to Hudson's Bay. 43 

beyond their present enjoyment. The fewness and simplicity 
of their wants, with the abundance of means for their supply, 
and the ease with which they are acquired, renders all division 
of property useless. Each amicably participates the ample 
blessings of an extensive country, without rivalling" his neigh- 
bour or interrupting his happiness. This renders all govern- 
ment and all laws unnecessary, as in such a state there can be 
no temptations to dishonesty, fraud, injustice, or violence; 
nor, indeed, any desires which may not be gratified with in- 
nocence. 

To acquire the art of dispensing with all imaginary wants, 
and contenting- ourselves with the real conveniences of life, is 
one of the noblest exertions of reason, and a most useful ac- 
quisition, as it elevates the mind above the vicissitudes of 
fortune. Socrates justly observes, that those who want least, 
approach nearest to the gods, who want nothing. The sim- 
plicity, however, which is so apparent in the manners of the In- 
dians is not the effect of a philosophical self-denial, but of the 
ignorance of more refined enjoyments, which, however, pro- 
duces effects equally happy with those which result from the 
most austere philosophy ; and their manners present an em- 
blem of the fabled Elysian fields, where individuals need not 
the assistance of each other, but yet preserve a constant inter- 
course of love and friendship. 

Several modern philosophers, as Rousseau, Lord Moti- 
boddo, and others, from observing the innocence and happi- 
ness which savage nations enjoy, though ignorant of the liberal 
arts, have from thence inferred, that arts and sciences were 
prejudicial to civilized society. In this, however, they are 
«gregiously mistaken. The ills of civilized society have their 
source in the unnatural and unequal distribution of property, 
which is necessarily produced by the different degrees of saga- 
city, industry, and frugality in individuals, transmitted to, and 
augmented by an accumulating posterity, till the disproportion 
in the possessions of different individuals becomes enormous, 
and creates a thousand unnatural distinctions among mankind, 
enabling some to squander the bread of thousands in a profu- 
sion of satiating pleasures, while multitudes are suffering from 
want, insulted by every species of subordinate tyranny, Thus 
the excessive disproportion of wealth renders the poor miser- 
able, without augmenting the happiness of the rich. When 
this disparity becomes considerable, then, and not till then, 
luxury advances with all its attendant pleasures and refine- 
ments ; which, without communicating an increase of happi- 
ness to those who enjoy them, tempt those who have them 
not to endeavour to acquire them by unjust and violent means. 

G2 



44 JlPKeevor's Voyage to Hudson* s Bay, 

Mankind are then taught to connect the idea of happiness 
with those of dress, equipage, affluence, and all the various 
amusements which luxury has invented ; thence they become 
slaves to a thousand imaginary wants, which become the 
source of envy, discontent, fraud, injustice, perjury, and vio- 
lence. Thus man becomes the author of moral evil. 

To conclude I may remark, that every kind of life has its 
peculiar advantages as well as evils. The vices of civilized 
countries, though more numerous are less terrible. Artificial 
wants extend the circle of our pleasures ; luxury in the rich, 
promotes industry and the arts, and feeds and clothes the la- 
bouring poor, who would otherwise starve ; thus we derive 
advantage not only from the follies but the vices of each other. 
Whether, therefore, we pass our life in the rustic simplicity 
and ignorance of anEsquimeaux Indian, or in the endless plea- 
sures of refinements and luxury, we shall arrive at the same 
end, and, perhaps, with an equal portion of happiness, as far, 
at least, as it depends on external enjoyments, abstracting only 
the miseries of real want and disease. However various the 
conditions of mankind may be, the distribution of happiness 
and misery in life is far from being so unequal as is generally 
believed ; good and evil are indiscriminately mingled in the 
Cup of Being : the monarch in his purple, and the beggar in 
his rags, are exposed to their respective cares and afflictions. 
Agreeable objects, by possession and familiarity, lose their 
aptitude and capacity for pleasing, and, in every state of life, 
hope ends in disappointment, and enjoyment in satiety. 

August 4th. The ice beginning to loose for a considerable 
distance around the ship, we took in our anchors and made 
sail ; during this day we got several very severe knocks from 
the ice, in consequence of which we were obliged to keep the 
pumps going day and night. 

On the 6th we were again visited by the Esquimeaux, 
Many of the women had their faces tattoed in a very curious 
manner; one of them, whose entire face was almost completely 
covered with these marks, had her hair collected into large 
bobs, from which hung several bears-claws. Their principal 
articles of traffic consisted of dogs, whalebone, and bones of 
the sea-horse dried, and of a beautiful white colour ; a few 
had small bags, containing mosses, lichens, and a few other 
cryptogamous plants. 

The dogs were for the most part white ; some, however, 
were spotted, and others of a black colour. Their ears are 
short and erect, and the whole body is covered with long hair; 
their legs and feet resemble very much those of the bear. 
They do not bark, but make a growling kind of noise. Some- 



M'Keevor's Voyage to Hudson's Bay. 45 

times they are eaten by the natives ; when the skins are used 
as coverlets for cloathing, or for bordering and seaming their 
habits. They are principally used, however, both in this 
country and in Kamstschatka, for the purpose of drawing their 
sledges over the frozen snow during the winter-season. Four, 
five, or six, as circumstances may require, are commonly 
yoked to the same sledge, and will readily carry these persons 
with their baggage a journey of fifty English miles a-day. 

On the 8th we got in sight of Cape Diggs, lat., as observed, 
63° 4', long. 78° 50'. And on the day following Cape Walsing- 
ham came in view, bearing S. W., and in lat. 62° 39', long-. 
77° 48'. 

August 10th. Finding it impossible to make further pro- 
gress through the ice, we made fast to an island of prodigious 
height and extent, and of a very singular shape. The fore 
part, or that to which we anchored, was hollowed-out in a 
semicircular form, and was of sufficient extent to afford shel- 
ter to the three ships. The back part presented a perpendi- 
cular cliff, which could not be less than 300 feet high ; the 
top part presented a surface of about two miles in circumfer- 
ence ; in one part raised into rugged fantastic hills, in another 
depressed into abrupt precipitous vallies. Altogether, this 
island formed one of the grandest piles I had ever witnessed. 
About six o'clock a party of us agreed to go on shore. We 
brought with us a very fine lad, a sailor-boy, who played the 
German-flute inimitably well, and who had been on this, as 
well as many other occasions, a very agreeable source of 
amusement to us. After labouring very hard for near two 
hours, we at length gained the summit of the island, which 
we took possession of in the name of his Britannic majesty. 
Having laid aside our ice-anchors, axes, staffs, &c. we sat 
down to a collation of bread and cheese, after which we had 
some wine. At length the lad began playing his flute ; the 
rich and melodious sounds of which being reverberated from 
the adjacent hills and vallies, gave it an inconceivably grand 
effect. 

The sun still lingered on the verge of the western horizon, 
appearing, as it were, to rest his " huge disk" on one of the 
frozen fields of ice. At length, however, after spreading a 
saffron-coloured suffusion along the huge pile of clouds which 
now assembled on all sides, like " misfortunes and disasters 
around a sinking empire and falling monarch," he gently 
closed the parting day. 

And now they change; a paler shadow strews 
Its mantle o'er the mountains ; parting day 
Dies like the dolphin, whom each pang cmbues 



46 M-Kecvor's Voyage to Hudson's Bay, 

Willi a new colour as it gasps away, 

The last, still loveliest; till — 'tis gone — and all is grey. 

Last Canto of Childe Harold, p. 16. 

A night of uncommon fineness succeeded ; the moon rose 
with unclouded splendour, irradiating with its placid efful- 
gence the surrounding scenery, and giving it, if possible, 
a still more interesting- appearance. The clearness of the 
heavens, the serenity of the air, and the soft tranquillity which 
appeared to pervade all nature, contributed to harmonize the 
mind, and produce the most calm and pleasing sensations. 
On those occasions the soul appears to have an irresistible ten- 
dency to rise from the grand and majestic scene to the great 
Author of all sublimity. 

About eleven o'clock we returned to the vessel, highly gra- 
tified with our evening-'s amusements. Just as we were getting 
on board a very melancholy event had nearly happened. The 
poor sailor-boy, to whom we were indebted for a great part of 
the evening's amusement, unfortunately slipped while getting 
up the quarter-deck, and was precipitated into the sea. Ropes 
and boat-hooks were instantly got, and in a few minutes we 
had the poor fellow safe on board. 

On the 12th we made the north-end of ManselPs Island, 
situated in lat. G2° 38J', long. 80° 33'. 

August 15th. Hardly any ice in sight; going about four 
knots in the hour ; the ship continuing very leaky, we were 
obliged to keep the pumps going day and night. 

August 20. About half-past one, A. M., the man at the 
forecastle shouted out ice a-head. The mate immediately 
went up to the bow of the vessel, and fouud we were running 
straight on very heavy ice. Being' under a heavy press of 
sail, and going at the rate of 1\ knots in the hour, we were 
of course much alarmed; fortunately, however, the ship was 
readily got about, so that, in a short time, we were completely 
clear. After a short tack we again fell in with ice ; about 
five o'clock, however, A. M., we got into a clear sea. At 
nine, A. 31., going about 5J knots in the hour ; course S. W. 
by W. ; wind fair. 

On the 21st we got into Hudson's Bay, after which we saw 
no more ice. Instead of feasting our eyes with the grand and 
impressive scenery which we had so long enjoyed, we had to 
encounter three days of almost incessant squalls, sleet, rain, 
and a most boisterous sea. 

On the 24th it blew a tremendous gale of wind ; danger 
considerably aggravated by our having made the land too 
soon. In a short time the whole horizon was covered with 
large foaming billows, which 



MKeevor's Voyage to Hudson 9 $ Bay. 47 

Swcll'd and rag'd and foam'd, 

To be exalted with the threat'ning clouds. 

In a few minutes all was hurry and confusion ; the captain 
flew himself from one part of the deck to the other with the 
greatest alertness, to assist, by his own exertions, when fear, or 
hurry, prevented the sailors from doing their duty. In the 
middle of this awful scene I was called on to render professi- 
onal assistance to Mrs. M'Clain, who was seized with labour- 
pains. It would be difficult to conceive a more unpleasant 
situation than that in which I was now placed. The dread of 
being driven on a lee-sbore, the howling of the wind among 
the rigging, the awful sound of the pumps, which we were 
obliged to keep constantly at work ; the cries of my poor pa- 
tient, who was now suffering the most intense pain which 
human nature can suffer, all combined with the horribly de- 
pressing- effects of sea-sickness, contributed to render this the 
most frightful night I had ever witnessed. 

About twelve o'clock, P. 31., in consequence of dreadful 
shouting, I went upon deck, and found every one in the 
greatest consternation and terror; it appeared we had got in 
among shoals, and that we had now not more than four-fathom 
water ; in a short time, however, we got into ten-fathom, 
when we cast two anchors. On these depended all our safety; 
if they gave way nothing* would have saved us from being 
driven on shore, when we must inevitably have perished ; for- 
tunately, however, they held fast. About ten o'clock, A. M., 
Mrs. M'Clain was, to the great joy of all on board, safely de- 
livered of a daughter. At twelve o'clock the weather began 
to clear up, and, with the exception of a few showers, was fine 
all day. A brighter atmosphere now permitted us to get 
sight of the land, from which we were distant about ten miles. 
Some grass and twigs were observed floating along'-side the 
ship. 

The following morning, while lying in bed, I heard one of 
the men upon deck say he saw a schooner coming off from the 
land. We all immediately went upon deck, and found, to our 
great joy, that this piece of intelligence was correct. In a 
short time she was along-side. A large quantify of venison 
was sent us by the governor of York Fort, a present which 
the reader may readily suppose was most acceptable, as we 
had hardly tasted any thing for two days. 

Wednesdav, August 26th, we cast anchor in view of York 
Fort, lat. 57° 2' N. long. 92° 46'. The day following I went 
on shore, in company with the rest of the cabin-passengers. 
The coast, as we approached it, presented a very interesting- 
appearance, being thickly studded with pine, poplar, and ju- 



48 M'Keevor's Voyage to Hudson's Bay* 

niper, while the tide rippled on in tiny waves towards the 
white and pebbled beach. After ascending a platform, which 
projected out for a considerable distance, we were welcomed 
in a most polite manner by Mr. Aid, the governor. Until you 
come to the governor' s house, nothing is to be seen but a few 
out-houses, some for storing firs, others for boat-builders. 
The govornor's house is about 100 yards in breadth, and thirty 
feet high, consisting of two stories, not unlike an extensive 
farm-house. Before it, there is a high close railing, for the 
purpose, J was told, of keeping off the Indians when they get 
intoxicated, as they are then not only troublesome but dan- 
gerous. It is built entirely of wood, cut into square logs, and 
laid one on top of the other. After partaking of some re- 
freshments, a walk was proposed. As I was most anxious 
to get a glimpse of the natives, I made towards that part of 
the shore where I had, on our way up, observed some of their 
wigwams. Of these I shall now give some account. 

The North-American Indians are, for the most part, tall, 
large boned, and long visaged, with very prominent features. 
The eye is penetrating, and of a deep black colour. The nose 
prominent, of an aquiline shape, not at all flattened. The 
forehead is short and straight. Chin rounded, and projecting 
slightly. Mouth large, but lips not at all everted. Hair 
uniformly of a shining black, strait and coarse, having no 
disposition whatever to curl. On the entire, when viewed in 
profile, the parts appear more deeply and distinctly marked 
out than in the Esquimeaux. The ear is not placed so far 
back on the head, nor is the glabella, or space between the 
eyes, at all so great as in the last-mentioned tribe. The ge- 
neral expression of countenance is gloomy and severe. Some, 
however, especially the young men, have a very cheerful ani- 
mated look. Though the countenance is, generally speaking, 
such as 1 have here represented, there is, however, the same 
variety as we meet with amongst Europeans, contrary to the 
assertion of some, who have maintained that all the inhabit- 
ants of the new world have precisely the same countenance ; 
so that having seen one, you might be said to have seen all. 
They have but little hair on their chin, or upper lip, owing, 
as in the case of the Esquimeaux, to its being eradicated im- 
mediately on its first appearance. The most unfounded re- 
ports have been circulated on this subject, by ignorant, super- 
ficial, or prejudiced observers. Some, indeed, have gone so 
far as to assert that the Americans are destitute of beard, alto- 
gether, and have represented this as a characteristic peculi- 
arity of this portion of the human race. The concurring tes- 
timony, however, of all modern accurate travellers, proves 



M'Keevor's Voyage to Hudson's Bay. 49 

clearly that the Americans have naturally beards, and just as 
abundant as we find it amongst Europeans : that it is a very 
general custom with them, as it has teen with several Mor- 
golian and Malay tribes, carefully to eradicate this excres- 
cence ; but that various tribes, in different parts of the conti- 
nent, preserve it as other men do. 

Gmelin found this practice to exist in Africa: " It is not 
easy," he says, " to find a Zungoone, nor any man of the 
neighbouring tribes, with a beard ; for they extract the hairs 
as soon as they appear, and repeat the process until at last no 
more are formed." 

The same circumstance is reported Of the Sumatrans, by 
Marsden ; of the Mindanao islanders, by Forrest ; Of the 
Pellew islanders, by Wilson; of the inhabitants of New Guinea, 
by Cartaret ; and of those of Navigators' Isles, by Bougain- 
ville. I may add to this evidence, the testimonies of the ce- 
lebrated navigator Captain Cook; as also that of the most 
scientific traveller of ancient and modern times, the celebrated 
Humboldt. Captain Cook, speaking of the inhabitants of 
Nootka Sound, says, " Some have no beards at all, and others 
only a thin one on the point of the chin. This does not arise 
from a deficiency of hair in these parts, but from their pluck- 
ing it out by the roots ; for those who do not destroy it, have 
not only considerable beards on every part of the chin, but 
also whiskers, or mustachios, running from the upper lip to 
the lower jaw, obliquely downwards." 

Humboldt, speaking of the South Americans, remarks, 
u The Mexicans, I have observed, particularly those of the 
Aztee and Otomite races, have more beard than ever I saw in 
any other Indians of South America. In the neighbourhood 
of the capital, almost all the Indians wear mustachios." And 
again, " I can affirm, that the Indians who inhabit the Torrid 
Zone of South America have generally some beard ; and that 
the beard increases when they shave themselves." 

The females, or squaws, as they are generally called, differ 
considerably both in person and features from the men. In- 
stead of being tall, robust, and long-visaged, they are, on the 
contrary, short, small-boned, with the face approaching more 
to the rounded form. The colour of the hair is the same in 
both ; the women, however, pay more attention to its being 
combed smooth behind, so as to flow loose about their shoul- 
ders ; in front, it is very neatly divided, so as to give a full 
view of the forehead. They, for the most part, have an ex- 
pression of mildness and sweetness in their looks. The com- 
mon dress of the men, in summer, consists of an English 
blanket thrown loosely round their shoulders; under this a 

Voyages and Travels, No. 2. Vol. II. H 



t 



50 dPKeevor's Voyage to Hudson's liai). 

deer skin jacket, the sleeves of which are distinct from the 
body, so that they can be removed at pleasure. Their small- 
clothes and shoes are made of the same materials as the jacket; 
the latter, or moccasicus, as they are termed, are generally 
embroidered with dyed porcupine's quills, in a very neat and 
elegant manner. Some of them wore a coat of scarlet, or 
green cloth, made after the military fashion, and ornamented 
with a profusion of tin, or silver trinkets, giving them a very 
noble and majestic appearance. 

The dress of the women differs somewhat from that of the 
men : the blanket, instead of being thrown loose about the 
shoulders, is brought close round the forehead, somewhat in 
form of a hood* and is generally bound round with scarlet, Or 
green tape ; they also wear a long loose petticoat, made of 
some woollen stuff. On Sunday, in place of the blanket, they 
wear a piece of green or scarlet cloth, made into the form of 
a mantle, and thrown carelessly over the shoulders ; it is in 
general very handsomely embroidered with various coloured 
ribbons, particularly green or yellow ; under this they wear 
a cloth dress, not unlike a European riding-habit. When 
going abroad, they wear a black beaver-hat, ornamented with 
feathers and bands of various- coloured ribbons. On the en- 
tire, an Indian woman, in her Sunday-dress, has a very pretty 
and interesting appearance. 

Their canoes differ considerably from those of the Esqui- 
meaux, as well in the shape as in the materials of which they 
are formed. The American canoe is completely open at top, 
and is made of sections of bark, taken from the birch-tree'; 
these are sewed together with filaments from the roots of the 
spruce fir-tree, called watape. They are about thirty feet in 
length, and about six in breadth at the widest part. Tire 
bottom is rounded, and they have no keel. The frame is 
formed of slight pieces of light wood, over which is fastened 
a sheathing composed of the materials already mentioned. 
Instead of the double paddle, used by the Esquimeaux, they 
make use of a short piece of wood, about three feet long*, 
narrow at the top, and gradually becoming broad towards the 
extremity ; on the whole, not unlike the extremity of an Eng- 
lish oar cut off. 

The manner in which they construct their tents, or wig- 
wams, is as follows : Being provided with poles of a proper 
length, they fasten two of them across, near the ends, with 
bands made of birch rind ; having done this, they raise them 
up, and extend the lower part of each as wide as they pro- 
pose to make the area of the tent ; other poles, of an equal 
height, are then set round at equal distances from each other, 



MfKeevor's Voyage to Hudson's Bay. 51 

so that their lower ends form a complete circle ; over the en- 
tire is spread the tent-cloth, which is generally made of deer- 
skins* dressed by the natives. A slit is made in the bottom 
part, which serves the purpose of door ; it is always placed 
opposite to that point from which the wind blows. These 
tents have neither window nor chimney; there is merely an 
aperture left in the middle of the roof, which serves the double 
purpose of letting out the smoke, and admitting the light. 

This humble wigwam constitutes the entire of a North- 
American Indian's residence, serving him as kitchen, parlour, 
bed-room, &c. In one part, their culinary and domestic uten- 
sils are arrauged ; in another, their beds, which are rolled up 
during the day, and covered with a large buffaloe-skin ; and 
in another, the materials for their work. Among their culinary 
utensils is what they term a skippertogan, or small bag, which 
contains a flint, steel, and touchwood. Some of these bags 
are uncommonly handsome, being richly ornamented with 
beads, porcupine-quills, and ermine. The perogan, or tinder, 
the Indians make use of, is a kind of fungus that grows on 
the outside of the birch-tree. There are two kinds, one hard, 
and not unlike rhubarb ; the other soft and smooth. The 
latter is prepared for use by laying it on hot ashes, and then 
reducing it to a state of fine powder. The hard kind is very 
easily ignited, catching even the smallest spark that falls from 
the steel ; once on fire, it is very difficult to extinguish it ; 
the spark appears to spread and burrow through the entire 
mass in all directions, so that, though to all appearance it is 
quite extinguished, combustion is all the time going on inter- 
nally ; hence the use of it is attended with considerable risk. 
I have had pieces of it in my pocket quite free, as I con-? 
ceived, from combustion ; on putting in my hand, however, I 
have frequently found the entire reduced almost to a cinder. 
In the interior, where they have no opportunity of getting 
a flint and steel, they procure fire by riibbin<r two smooth 
pieces of wood rapidly against each other, J 

* The Indian mode of dressing leather is as follows: A lather is made 
of the brains and some of the soft fat or marrow of the animal commonly 
called the rein-deer ; in this the skin is well soaked, when it is taken out, and 
not only dried by the heat of a fire, but hung up in the smoke for several days ; 
it is then taken down, and is well soaked and washed in warm water till the 
grain of the skin is perfectly open, and it has imbibed a sufficient quantity 
of water ; after which it is taken out, and wrung as dry as possible, and then 
dried by the heat of a slow fire, care being taken to rub and stretch it as long 
as any moisture remains in the skin ; afterwards they are scraped to make 
them quite smooth. — See Heron's Voyage up Coppermine River.- — Being 
dressed in oil, they always grow harder after being wet, unless great care bo 
taken to keep rubbing them all the time they arc drying. 

H2 



62 M'Keevor's Voyage to Hudson's Bay. 

Those situated about the factory boil their victuals in tin 
or copper vessels, which they procure in exchange for furs. 
Those at a distance from it are, however, obliged to substi- 
tute vessels made of the bark of the birch-tree, sewed together 
with some vegetable fibre. As they will not bear exposure to 
the fire sufficient to bring* water to a boiling temperature, 
they are obliged to have recourse to the following contriv- 
ance : they take some large stones, and place them in the 
centre of the fire until they are red-hot ; they then take them 
out, and plunge them into the birch-rind vessel. By conti- 
nuing this process for some time, the water is soon brought to 
a state of ebullition. The food, however, when dressed in 
this way, is generally mixed with sand, or small particles of 
gravel. 

The care of their tents is consigned entirely to the women; 
as is, indeed, all the drudgery of an Indian life. They are 
obliged, while travelling, to pitch their tents, dress their vic- 
tuals, make and repair every article of dress. In short, the 
moment she becomes a wife she loses her liberty, and is an 
obsequious slave to her husband, who takes good care never 
to lose sight of his prerogative. Wherever he goes she must 
follow, and durst not venture to incense him by a refusal, 
knowing that if she neglects him, extreme punishment, if not 
death, ensues. Notwithstanding all this, they are generally 
found humble and faithful servants,* tender and affectionate 
wives, fond and indulgent parents. I have frequently gone 
into their tents, and have sat for hours delighted and amused 
with their modest unassuming manners, and simple habits of 
humble industry. On going in, they always offered me some 
dried buffaloe-tongue, or perhaps some pimmicum,f an article 



* In every part of the world, one of the most general characteristics of 
the savage is to despise and degrade the female sex. Among most of the 
tribes in America, their condition is so peculiarly grievous, that servitude is 
a name too mild to describe their wretched state ; a wife is no better than a 
beast of burden. While the man passes his days in idleness or amusement, 
the woman is condemned to incessant toil. Tasks are imposed upon her 
without mercy, and services are received without complacence or gratitude. 
There are some districts in America, where this state of degradation has 
been so severely felt, that mothers have destroyed their female infants to 
deliver them at once from a life in which they were doomed to such a miser- 
able slavery.— Ske Malthus on Population. 

f The provision called pimmicum is prepared in the following manner: 
The lean parts of the flesh of the larger animals are cut in thin slices, and 
are placed on a wooden grate over a slow fire, or exposed to the sun, and 
sometimes to the frost. By these operations it is dried, and in that state is 
pounded between .two stones so as to reduce it to a fine powder ; it is then 
made into cakes, which will keep for almost any length of time. 



M'Keebor's Voyage to Hudson's Bay. 53 

of diet on which they principally subsist during their journies 
into the interior. 

The character I have here given applies principally to the 
northern Indian women, as the southern Indian females are, 
I have been informed, a most profligate abandoned set. Like 
every other class of people, however, there are exceptions. 
Amongst them, Mr. Hearne, in his interesting work, gives 
the following very remarkable one : — 

Mary, the daughter of Moses Norton, a native of the 
country, and for many years chief at Prince of Wales's Fort, 
in Hudson's Bay, though born and brought up in a country of 
all others the least favourable to virtue and to virtuous princi- 
ples, possessed these and every other good and amiable qua- 
lity in the most eminent degree. Without the assistance of 
religion, and with no education but what she received among- 
the dissolute natives of her country, she would have shone 
with superior lustre in any community ; for if an engaging* 
person, gentle manners, an easy freedom, arising from a con- 
sciousness of innocence; an amiable modesty, and an unrivalled 
delicacy of sentiment, are graces and virtues which render a 
woman lovely, none ever had greater pretensions to esteem 
and regard ; while her benevolence, humanity, and scrupu- 
lous adherence to truth, would have done honour to the most 
enlightened and devout christian. Dutiful, obedient, and af- 
fectionate to her parents, steady and faithful to her friends, 
grateful and humble to her benefactors ; easily forgiving and 
forgetting injuries, careful not to offend any, and courteous 
ancf kind to all ; she was nevertheless suffered to perish by the 
rigours of cold and hunger, amidst her own relations, at 
a time when the griping hand of famine was by no means 
severely felt by any other member of their company; and it 
may truly be said, that she fell a martyr to the principles of 
virtue. This happened in the winter of the year 1782, after 
the French had destroyed Prince of Wales's Fort, at which 
time she was in the 22d year of her age. Human nature 
shudders at the bare recital of such brutality, and reason 
shrinks from the task of accounting for the decrees of Provi- 
dence on such occasions as this ; but they are the strongest 
assurances of a future state, so infinitely superior to the pre- 
sent, that the enjoyment of every pleasure in this world, by 
the most worthless and abandoned wretch, or the most inno- 
cent and virtuous woman, perishing by the most excruciating 
of all deaths, are matters equally indifferent ; but — 

Peace to the ashes and the virtuous mind 
Of her who liv'd in peace with all mankind ; 



54 M'Keevor's Voyage to Hudson's Bay. 

bearn'd from the heart, unknowing of disguise; 
Truth in her thoughts, and candour in her eyes ; 
Stranger alike to envy and to pride, 
Good sense her light, and nature all her guide ; 
But now removM from all the ills of life, 
Here rests the pleasing friend and faithful wife ! 



Waller. 



The speed and facility with which the Indian women pass 
through the most interesting- period of female suffering, has 
long been a matter of observation, and of surprise. A very 
remarkable instance of this occurred during my stay at York 
Fort, which I shall here take the liberty to mention. Mrs. 
B., an Indian lady, wife of one of the inland governors, was 
occupied the entire day about her tent. I entered her tent at 
three o'clock in the afternoon ; she was then preparing dinner, 
which consisted of boiled venison, venison-soup, and English 
biscuit ; she was at that time quite cheerful, and in remark- 
ably good spirits. About six o'clock in the evening she was 
seized with labour-pains, when she retired to an apartment in 
the governor's house, in company with an elderly Indian wo- 
man ; about half-past six she was delivered of a fine boy ; and 
a little after seven of the same evening, I saw her walking 
about the factory. The young infant immediately born was 
washed with cold-water, and afterwards wrapped up in a 
young beaver-skin and placed in its cradle, which m made as 
follows : They take a plain piece of board, about three feet 
long and one and a half in breadth; to either side of this they 
make fast a portion of cloth or ticking, which they procure 
from the Europeans ; this they adorn with beads and quill- 
work, in a very tasty and beautiful manner. Under this outer 
covering, which is made to lace up the front, they place a fine 
English blanket, folded in a circular form, and inside of this 
they place a layer of very fine moss, for the purpose of absorb- 
ing the discharges of the child ; when soiled it is immediately 
renewed. To each corner of the flat piece of board a string 
is attached, which terminates in a loop ; by these they are sus- 
pended from the side of the tent, so as not to prevent them 
attending to their work. To one end of the board a broad 
worsted belt is made fast; when travelling this is passed round 
the forehead, while the cradle hangs behind. The face of the 
child is all that is seen, the arms and feet being confined under 
the cloths and bandages which are wrapped round it. In 
summer a piece of gauze is thrown over the young savage, to 
keep off the musquitos, which are at this season very trouble- 
some. Shortly after the child was born it was given the breast; 
I could not help admiring the tender and affectionate looks 



c M'Keevor's Voyage to Hudson's Bay. 55 

this fond mother gave her little babe while she was giving it 
this nourishment, or, as they very beautifully express it, 
tootooshonarto, the sap of the human breast. The day follow- 
ing that of which I have been speaking, Mrs. B. and her hus- 
band set out on a journey of two hundred miles. 

Long, in his account of the North American Indians, relates 
the following anecdote : " About an hour before sun-set, on the 
fourth day, we stopped at a small creek, which was too deep 
to be forded, and whilst the Indian was assisting me in mak- 
ing a raft to cross over, rather than swim through in such cold 
weather against a strong current, I looked round and missed 
his wife ; I was rather displeased, as the sun was near setting, 
and I was anxious to gain the opposite shore to encamp before 
dark. I asked the Indian where his wife was gone ; he smiled, 
and told me, he supposed into the woods to set a collar for a 
partridge. In about an hour she returned with a new-born 
infant in her arms, and coming up to me said in Chippeway, 
* Oway Sagonnash Payshik Skomagonish,' or, here English- 
man is a young warrior." Mr. Hearne informs us, that when 
a northern Indian woman is taken in labour, a small tent is 
erected for her, at such a distance from the other tents that 
her cries cannot easily be heard, and the other women and 
young girls are her constant attendants. No male, except 
children in arms, are ever allowed to approach her. It is a 
circumstance, perhaps, to be lamented, that these people never 
attempt .o assist each other on these occasions, even in the 
most critical cases. This is in some measure owing* to deli- 
cacy, but more probably to an opinion they entertain, that 
nature is abundantly sufficient to perform every thing required 
without any external helps whatever. Mr. Hearne tells us, 
that when he informed them of the assistance which European 
women derive from the skill and attention of practitioners in 
midwifery, they treated it with the utmost contempt, ironically 
observing, " that the many hump-backs, bandy-legs, and 
other deformities, so frequent among the English, were un- 
doubtedly owing to the great skill of the persons who assisted 
in bringing them into the world, and to the extraordinary care 
of the nurses afterwards." 

After childbirth an Indian woman is reckoned unclean for a 
month or five weeks, during which time she always remains 
in a small tent placed at a little distance from the others, with 
only a female acquaintance or two ; and during the whole time 
the father never sees the child. The reason which they assign 
for this practice is, that children when first born are sometimes 
not very sightly, having in general large heads and but little 
hair, and are, moreover, often discoloured by the force of 



5(> M'Keevofs Voyage to Hudson's Bay. 

labour ;* so that were the father to see them to such great dis- 
advantage, he might, probably, take a dislike to them, which 
never afterwards could be removed. It is said, that when de- 
livered of twins, they sacrifice that which appears to them the 
weaker of the two ; this monstrous practice exists among many 
wandering nations, where the men never take any burdens 
that might encumber them in the chace. They generally 
suckle their children for two years ; some, however, continue 
it for three, four, and even five years. 

The absolute want of all kind of domestic cattle, and conse- 
quently the total want of all milk-diet, is the principal reason 
why the American women keep their infants so long a time at 
the breast. It is probably owing to this long-continued nurs- 
ing that the mammae are in them so relaxed and pendulous.f 
They are, however, by no means so long as some writers 
would lead us to suppose ; indeed, I suspect there is much 
exaggeration, if not absolute falsehood, in some of these narra- 
tions. Thus, in Hakluyt's Collection, vol. ii. p. 26, it is 
asserted, that divers women have such exceeding long breasts 
that some of them will lay the same upon the ground, and lie 
down by them. Bruce asserts, that in some of the Shangallas 
they hang down to the knees. Mentzelius tells us, that purses 
are made in great numbers from the breasts of Hottentot fe- 
males, and sold at the Cape of Good Hope. But what will 
appear still more extraordinary is, that the females of this 
country (Ireland) have been accused of this extreme pendu- 
lous state of the mammae. I hope my fair country-women 
will excuse me for making the following extract: Lithgow, 
in his " Raire Adventures and Painefulle Pergrinations," p. 
433, says, " I saw, in Ireland's northe parts, women travayl- 
ing the way, or toyling at home, carry their infants about their 
neckes, and laying the dugges over their shoulders ; would 
give sucke to the babes behinde their backs, without taking 
them in their armes. Such kind of breasts, me thinketh, were 
very fit to be made money-bags for East or West-Indian mer- 
chants, being more than half a yard long, and as well wrought 
as any tanner, in the like charge, could ever mollifie such 
leather." 



* We are not, however, to suppose that this process is so readily accom- 
plished in all cases. Mr. Tidier informed me; that they are somtimes a day 
and a night in labour. In this case they frequently pass a stick horizontally 
along the abdomen, for the purpose of exciting uterine contraction. If tra- 
velling, they place the child on their backs and resume their journey. 

f See Article Man, Rees Cyclopaedia. 






M'Keevor's Voyage to Hudson's Bay. 57 

The Indian women are remarkably attached to their young 
charge,* watching over them with the greatest affection and 
tenderness ; and, should they die, lamenting their loss in the 
most affecting manner. Even for several months after their 
decease they visit their little g*raves, and shed over them some 
very bitter tears. From their infant state they endeavour to 
promote an independent spirit in their offspring; they are 
never known either to beat or scold them, lest the martial 
disposition which is to adorn their future life and character 
should be weakened. On all occasions they avoid every thing 
compulsive, that the freedom with which they wish them to 
act may not be controuled. They instruct them in lessons of 
patience and fortitude, and endeavour to inspire them with 
courage in war, and a contempt of danger and death ; above 
all things, they endeavour to instil into their minds an here- 
ditary hatred and implacable thirst of revenge towards the 
Esquimeaux. 

The North American Indians, in general, have five or six 
wives. Indeed, this is frequently the only mark of distinction 
amongst them, that man being most respected who is best able 
to support the greatest number of women. Thus Matonnabee, 
an Indian chiefi who conducted Mr. Hearne up Coppermine 
River, had eight of them. Their names are generally taken 
from some part or property of a beaver, martin, or other ani- 
mal. When they wish to take a wife, and that they find one 
to their mind, the Indian applies to the father of the girl, and 
asks his consent in the following words : 

" Nocey, dinner kee darmissey kee darniss nee zargay- 



* A singular instance of this occurred during Mr. Ellis's residence at 
York Fort. Two small canoes passing Hayes's River, when they had got 
to the middle of it, one of them, which was made of the bark of a birch-tree, 
sunk, in which was an Indian, his wife, and child. The other canoe being 
small, and incapable of receiving more than one of the parents and the child, 
produced a very extraordinary contest between the man and his wife, not 
but that both of them were willing to demote themselves to save the other; 
but that the difficulty lay in determining which would be the greatest loss to 
the child. The man used many arguments to prove it more reasonable that 
he should be drowned than the woman. But she alledged, on the contrary, 
it was more for the advantage of the child that she should perish, because he, 
as a man, was better able to hunt, and consequently to provide for it. The 
little time there was still remaining was spent in mutual expressions of ten- 
derness, the woman strongly recommending, as for the last time, to her hus- 
band, the care of her child.- This being done, they took leave in the water ; 
the woman quitting the canoe was drowned, and the man with the child got 
safe ashore, and is now taken much notice of by the people thereabouts.-— 

See Ellis's Voyage to Hudson's Bay, p. 88. 
Voyages and Travels, No. 2. Vol. II. I 



58 M'Keevo/t Voyage to Hudson's Bay* 

gar kakaygo o waterwarwardoossin cawween peccan weeiey 
ganunat ottertassey memarjis mee morJf 

" Father, I love your daughter ; will you give her tome, that 
the small roots of her heart may entangle with mine, so that 
the strongest wind that blows shall never separate them." If 
the father approves, an interview is appointed, for which the 
lover prepares by a perspiration ; he then comes into her pre- 
sence, sits down on the ground and smokes his pipe ; during 
the time of smoking he continues throwing small pieces of 
wood of about an inch in length at her, one by one, to the 
number of a hundred. As many as she can catch in a bark 
bowl, so many presents her lover must make to her father, 
which the latter considers as payment for his daughter. The 
young warrior then gives a feast, to which he invites all the 
family. When the feast is done, they sing and^lance to their 
war-songs. 

The merriment being over, and mutual presents exchanged 
between the lover and her relations, the father covers them 
with a beaver robe, and gives them, likewise, a gun and birch 
canoe, with which the ceremony ends. 

Conjuring is a very common practice among them, and is 
frequently had recourse to for the purpose of procuring* re- 
spect and distinction. As the conjurors are the only persons 
applied to in bodily ailments, their deceptions practices are 
also resorted to for the purpose of spreading their professional 
fame. Frequently they get themselves bound up in the fol- 
lowing manner : Being stripped quite naked, cords are passed 
round each finger, and then over the entire hand, so as to de- 
prive them altogether of the power of moving these parts ; 
they are then fastened behind their backs ; a large buffaloe 
skin is now thrown over them, and is tied round with ropes, 
beginning from above downwards. The legs are secured in 
a similar manner, so that they are deprived of the least power 
of motion. Bound up in this manner they are put into a tent 
alone; after extricating themselves they come out, and tell the 
by-standers exultingly, that it was the great spirit that assisted 
them in getting free. When a relation or friend to whom they 
are particularly attached is, as they suppose, in extreme dan- 
ger, they make use of the most absurd superstitious practices, 
such as pretending to swallow knives, chissels, hatchets, &c« 
This is done from a superstitious notion, that they will be able, 
by these means, to appease the " old scythe-man," and thus 
procure a respite for their patient. When these extraordinary 
practices are had recourse to, the patient is placed in the mid- 
dle of a small square tent, and in a short time is followed by 



M'Kecvor's Voyaye to Hudson's Bay. 51) 

the conjuror, who is stripped quite naked. In very hopeless 
cases they call for consultation ; in this case the assistants also 
enter quite naked. Having closed the door of the tent very 
accurately, they then arrange themselves about the unfortu- 
nate patient, and begin to suck and blow at the parts affected,* 
and in a ^short time to sing and talk, as if conversing with fa- 
miliar spirits, which they pretend appear to them in the shape 
of different animals. After a long' conference with those invi- 
sible agents, they then call for the instrument which they are 
to swallow. They very prudently have a long string attached 
to this knife, bayonet, or whatever else it may be, for the pur- 
pose of drawing it up again. After having- practiced this de- 
ception several times, they again commence sucking the part 
affected. After this the surating process is commenced ; for 
this purpose the tent is closed as accurately as possible on all 
sides. Red-hot stones are then thrown into a vessel of water, 
and in a short time the whole tent is filled with steam, which, 
acting on the surface of the skin, soon produces a copious 
sweat. This being continued until a feeling of weakness is 
induced, the cure is then said to be completed ; and certainly 
it must be allowed, especially where the complaint is of a 
rheumatic description, that this is not unfrequently the case. 
Mr. Hearne, in the interesting work already so often alluded 
to, gives the following very curious instances of which he was 
himself an eye-witness. " At the time when the forty and odd 
tents of Indians joined us, one man was so dangerously ill 
that it was thought necessary the conjurors should use some of 
their wonderful experiments for his recovery ; one of them, 
therefore, immediately consented to swallow a broad bavonet. 
Accordingly a conjuring-house was erected, into which the 
patient was conveyed, and he was soon followed by the conju- 
ror, who, after a long preparatory discourse, and the neces- 
sary conference with the familiar spirits, advanced to the door 
and asked for the bayonet, which was then ready prepared by 
having a string fastened to it, and a short piece of wood tied 
to the other end of the string to prevent him swallowing it. 



* For some inward complaints, such as griping in the intestines, Sec, it 
is very common to see those jugglers blowing into the rectum until their 
eyes are almost starting out of their head. The accumulation of so large a 
quantity of wind is, at times, apt to occasion some extraordinary emotions, 
which are not easily suppressed by a sick person; and, as there is no vent 
for it but the channel through which it was conveyed thither, it sometimes 
occasions an odd scene between the doctor and his patient, which I once 
wantonly called an engagement ; but for which 1 was afterwards exceed- 
ingly sorry, as it highly ouended several of the Indians, particularly the 
juggler and sick person. — IJeame's Voyage up Coppermine River. 

12 



60 M'Keevor's Voyage to Hudson's Bay. 

Though I am not so credulous," continues Mr. Hearne, " as 
to believe, that the conjuror absolutely swallowed the bayonet, 
yet I must acknowledge, that, in the twinkling of an eye, he 

conveyed it to God knows where ; and the small piece of 

wood, or one exactly like it, was confined close to his teett. 
He then paraded backward and forward before the conjuring- 
house for a short time, when he feigned to be greatly disor- 
dered in his stomach and bowels ; and, after making many 
wry-faces and groaning most hideously, he put his body into 
several distorted attitudes, very suitable to the occasion. He 
then returned to the door of the conjuring-house, and, after 
making strong efforts to vomit, by the help of the string he, 
at length, and after tugging at it for some time, produced the 
bayonet, which apparently he hauled out of his mouth, to the 
no small surprize of all present. He then looked round with 
an air of exultation, and strutted into the conjuring-house, 
where he renewed his incantations, and continued them with- 
out intermission for twenty-four hours." The other instance 
which Mr. Hearne mentions, is that of a poor paralytic Indian, 
who had been in a most deplorable condition for a length of 
time. " That nothing," remarks Mr. Hearne, " might be 
wanting towards his recovery, the same man who deceived me 
in swallowing a bayonet in the summer, now offered to swal- 
low a large piece of board, about the size of a barrel-stave, in 
order to effect his recovery. The piece of board was prepared 
by another man, and painted according to the directions of the 
juggler, with a rude representation of some beast of prey on 
one side ; and on the reverse was painted, according to their 
rude method, a resemblance of the sky. After holding the 
necessary conference with the invisible spirits, he asked if I 
was present, for he had heard of my saying that I did not see 
him swallow the bayonet fair ; and, on being answered in the 
affirmative, he desired me to come nearer; on which the Indians 
made a lane for me to pass, and I advanced close to him, and 
found him standing at the conjuring-house door as naked as 
when born. When the piece of board was delivered to him 
he proposed at first only to shove one-third of it down his 
throat, and then walk round the company ; afterwards to shove 
down another third, and so proceed till he had swallowed the 
whole, except a small piece of the end, which was to be left 
behind for the purpose of hauling it up again. When he put 
it to his mouth it apparently slipped down his throat like light- 
ning, and only left about three inches sticking without his 
lips ; after walking backwards and forwards three times, he 
hauled it up again, and ran into the conjuring-house with 
great precipitation. This he did, to all appearance, with great 



JWKeevor's Voyage to Hudson's Bay. 61 

care and composure, and, notwithstanding I was all attention 
on the occasion, I could not detect the deceit : and as to the 
reality of its being a piece of wood that he pretended to swal- 
low, there is not the least reason to doubt, for I had it in my 
hand both before and immediately after the ceremony." 

Matonnabee, an Indian chief, who was then present, as- 
sured Mr. Hearne that he had seen a man, who was then in 
company, swallow a child's cradle with as much ease as he 
could fold up a piece of paper, and put it into his mouth ; and 
that when he hauled it up again, not the mark of a tooth, or 
of any violence, was discovered about it. It is really ex- 
tremely difficult, and oftentimes altogether impossible to give 
any satisfactory explanation of the manner in which these 
feats of legerdemain are accomplished. I may remark, how- 
ever, and, indeed, Mr. Hearne admits the fact, that in the 
second instance there was great room for deception. Though 
the conjuror was quite naked, he had several of his compa- 
nions well clothed standing very close round him during the 
entire ceremony, and to whom he probably slipped the main 
piece of wood. This suspicion is confirmed by the circum- 
stance of Mr. Hearne having seen this man on that very day 
shape a piece of wood of precisely the same figure as that 
which protruded from the mouth, which was of this ^ shape. 
The figure of the entire piece was nearly what is here repre- 
sented ( (J (j i I > ([ ^ *. It is probable, therefore, that 



the top part was merely inserted into the body of the stave, so 
that it could be removed at pleasure. 

They rarely have recourse to any medicines either for their 
internal or external complaints, generally trusting for relief 
to such nonsensical charms as I have described. Sometimes, 
however, especially after their drunken freaks, they make use 
of blood-letting, which is performed in the following man- 
ner : they take a small sharp instrument, not unlike an awl, 
and drive it into the flesh under the vein which it is proposed 
to open ; they then cut down on the vessel with a common 
knife. Those who have neither of the instruments mentioned, 
make use of a sharp flint, with which they divide the vein. 

Lambert, in his travels through the United States of North- 
America, assures us, that they frequently, especially when 
after a fit of intoxication, quaff off, while yet quite warm, the 
blood which has been drawn from the arm of another Indian. 
In the year 1801, while travelling across the rocky mountains 
of the north-west, Mr. Lambert had an opportunity of wit- 
nessing this disgusting sight. " This morning our guide, be- 
longing to the Cree tribe, complained that his head and sto- 



62 M i Keevor's Voyage to Hudson's Bay. 

mach were out of order, owing* to the excess of last night* 
and asked for a little medicine, which was given to him ; but 
finding it did him neither good nor harm, he called his wife 
to him, where he was sitting amongst us at a large fire we 
had made to warm ourselves. She readily came : he asked 
her if she had a sharp flint? and upon her replying that she 
had not, he broke one, and made a lancet of it, with which he 
opened a vein in his wife's arm, she assisting him with great 
good-will. Having drawn about a pint of blood from her in 
a wooden bowl, to our astonishment he applied it to his 
mouth quite warm-, and drank it off; he then mixed the blood 
that adhered to the vessel with water, by way of cleansing the 
bowl, and also drank that off. While I was considering the 
savageness of this action, one of our men, with indignation, 
exclaimed to our guide, " I have eaten and smoked with thee ; 
but henceforward thou and I shall not smoke and eat together. 
What! drink, warm from the vein, the blood of thy wife !"«■« 
" Oh, my friend," said the Indian, " have I done wrong ? 
When I find my stomach out of order, the warm blood of my 
wife, in good health, refreshes the whole of my body, and 
puts me to rights : in return, when she is not well, I draw 
blood from my arm, she drinks it, and it gives her life. AH 
our nation do the same, and they all know it to be a good me- 
dicine." 

Mr. Ellis tells us, that for the purpose of curing cholic, 
and all bowel complaints, they swallow a large quantity of 
tobacco-smoke, by which they positively affirm they obtain 
great and speedy relief. I can hardly think they use pure 
tobacco on those occasions ; it is in all probability mixed with 
a plant which they are very fond of smoking, called sackas- 
shiapuk. 

No people indulge in sorrow to such an excess as the North- 
American Indians. Many of them, when they lose a friend 
or near relation, think nothing of cutting and mangling them- 
selves in a most shocking manner. Very frequently some 
pass a knife through the fleshy part* of the thigh or arm ; 
others cut off a joint of a finger for each relation they have 
lost ; others, again, pluck the nail out by the root, and lap 

* That those practices were usual among the heathens so early as the days 
of Moses, is evident from the injunction which the Lord laid on the children 
of Israel to avoid them. " You shall not round the corners of your head, 
neither shall you mar the corners of thy beard. You shall not make any 
cutting's in your jlesh for the dead, nor print any marks upon you."* And 
again, " Ye are llie children of the Lord your God; you shall not cut your- 
selves, nor make any baldness between your eyes for the dcad."f 

* Leviticus, c. xix. v. 27. + Deut. c. xiv. v. 1. 



M'Keevor's Voyage to Hudson's Bay. 63 

down the top of the finger. I recollect Mr. Swaine, one of 
the inland governors, mentioning to me that a Bungee woman 
came to his house last winter. Observing that she had several 
joints of her fingers cut off, he enquired of her the cause; 
when she immediately burst into tears, and told him, that for 
each of those joints she had lost a relative. It is probable, 
that these horrible practices are resorted to under the impres- 
sion that the malignant powers delight in groans and misery, 
and that they are not to be appeased but by human blood. 

When about to depart this life, they meet their approaching 
fate with firmness and resignation ; not unfrequently, indeed, 
especially when advanced in life,* they long for the expected 
summons. " It is better,'' said an aged Indian, " to be seated 
than standing ; to be asleep than awake ? to be dead than 
alive." After putting on their best clothes, the family is called 
around, and addressed in a firm manly tone, exhorting them to 
lead peaceable industrious lives; to be obliging' and friendly 
towards the Europeans; and if they bear any revenge to- 
wards another tribe, they are exhorted to carry it to the 
last. He endures his tortures with the greatest composure ; 
tells them he is going to the land of spirits, that blissful 
abode where he will have plenty of fowling- and fishing ; and 
desires them to bury with him his gun, shot-pouch, kettle, as 
also his skippertoggan, containing his flint, steel, and touch- 
wood. All this is faithfully complied with. If, however, 
they should at any time stand much in need of any of these 
articles, as a gun, for instance, they very often take it from 
their graves, and leave in its place a long pole. 

With regard to their religious sentiments, there is, I believe, 
but little difference. They all believe in a great good Being, 
and in a great bad one. They generally pray to the bad one 
that he may not injure them; to the good one they think it 
unnecessary to pray, as they are confident he will not injure 



* One custom they have, which is very extraordinary : When their pa- 
rents grow so old as to be incapable of supporting themselves by their own 
labour, they require their children to strangle them, and this is esteemed an 
act of obedience in them to perform. The manner of discharging this last 
duty is thus: the grave of the old person being dug, he goes into it; and, 
after having conversed, and smoked a pipe, or perhaps drank a dram or two 
with bis children, the old person signifies that he is ready ; upon which two 
of the children put a thong about his neck, one standing on one side, and 
the other opposite to him, pull violently till he is strangled, then cover him 
with earth, and over that they erect a kind of rough monument of stones. 
Such persons as have no children, request this office from their friends ; 
though, in this last case, it is not always complied with. — See Ellis's Voyage 
to Hudson's Bay. 



64 M'Keevor's Voyage to Hudson's Bay. 

them. Their opinion of the origin of mankind is, that the 
Great Spirit made the first men and women out of the earth, 
three in number of each; that those whom we Europeans 
sprang from were made from a whiter earth than what their 
progenitors were ; and that there was one pair of still blacker 
earth than that from which they were formed. Almost all of 
them believe in a future state of rewards and punishments, 
but unhappily they have blended with these important truths 
the most puerile and extravagant fancies, which are neither 
founded on rational piety, or productive of moral obligation. 

The climate here is almost always wintry; the hot weather, 
though violent, being of very short duration. About October, 
the snow begins to appear, and continues to fall at intervals 
the entire winter. During this season, the thermometer is 
often known to fall fifty degrees below the freezing point. 
Wine is said to freeze into a solid mass ; and brandy to as- 
sume a coagulated form ;* even the breath is said to fall in 
the form of hoar-frost upon the blankets. Frozen mercury 
has been reduced to plates as thin as paper, by beating it on 
an anvil previously reduced to the same temperature. When 
put into a glass of warm-water, a curious appearance is ob- 
served : the water instantly becomes solid, while the mercury 
passes to the fluid state. By the rapidity of the action, the. 
o-lass in which it was immersed was shivered into a thousand 
pieces. 

During this season, the inhabitants live principally in tents, 
constructed after the manner already mentioned, the sides of 
which are covered with snow for the purpose of increasing 
their warmth. Frequently, for weeks together, no one dare 
venture out, without running great risk of their lives. 

" Nought around 
Strikes his sad eye, but deserts lost in snow. 
And heavy loaded groves,, and solid floods, 
That stretch athwart the solitary vast 
Their icy horrors to the frozen main."f 

* If in drinking a dram of brandy out of a glass, one's tongue or lips 
touch it, in pulling them away the skin is left upon it. An odd instance of 
this sort happened to one of our people who was carrying a bottle of spirits 
from the house to his tent ; for, not having a cork to stop the bottle, he made 
use of his finger, which was soon frozen fast, by which accident he lost a 
part of it to make a cure practicable. 

f If a door or window was but opened, the cold air rushed in with great 
fury, and turned the inclosed vapours into small snow. Nor was all the heat 
we could raise sufficient to keep our windows, the ceiling, or sides of the 
house, clear from snow or ice. Those whose bed-clothes touched the walls, 
were generally froze fast to them by morning ; and our breaths settled in a 
white hoar-frost upon the blankets.— See Ellis's Voyage to Hudson's Bay, p. 81 . 



Jlf'Keevor's Voyage to Hudson's Bay. 65 

At this time they subsist principally on salted geese* dried 
tongues, and pimmicum. When the weather is more mode- 
rate, however, they hunt the rein-deer, which they often meet 
in vast herds, seeking- the extreme cold. Frequently, they 
merely take out the tongues, leaving the rest of the body to 
putrify, or to be devoured by wild beasts. At times, however, 
such is the extreme scarcity of food, that they are obliged to 
have recourse to the most filthy and disgusting practices for 
the purpose of sustaining life. Many are obliged to strip the 
hair from the peltry which they are bringing to the different 
factories, and subsist on the skins. Others procure a scanty 
nourishment from the deer-skins, with which their shoes and 
other parts of their dress are formed ; and, at times, such is 
the dreadful want of provisions, that they are compelled to 
resort to the horrid and revolting practice of cannibalism. 
Mr. Swaine mentioned to me an instance which occurred the 
preceding winter, of a southern Indian woman, who was in 
such extreme want, that she dug up one of her own relatives, 
who had been some time buried, and fed for several days on 
this shocking repast. 

Mr. Ellis tells us " that an Indian, who with his family 
was coming down to trade from a place very far distant, had 
the misfortune to meet with but little game by the way ; so 
that in a short time himself, his wife, and his children, were 
reduced to the last distress. In these circumstances, they 
plucked the fur from their clothes, and preserved life as long 
as they were able, by feeding on the skins which they wore ; 
but even this wretched resource soon failed them ; and then, 
what is terrible to conceive, and horrible to relate, these poor 
creatures sustained themselves by feeding on two of their 
children." 

Mr. Hearne, in p. 85 of his interesting work, makes men- 
tion of the following instance : " In the spring of the year 
1775, when I was building Cumberland-house, an Indian, 
whose name was Wappoos, came to the settlement at a time 
when fifteen tents of Indians were on the plantations; they 
examined him very minutely, and found he had come a con- 
siderable way by himself, without a gun or ammunition. This 
made many of them conjecture he had met with and killed 
some person by the way ; and this was the more easily cre- 
dited, from the care he took to conceal a bag of provisions 
which he had brought with him in a lofty pine-tree near the 
house. Being a stranger, I invited him in, though I saw he 
had nothing for trade ; and, during that interview, some of 
the Indian women examined his bag, and gave it as their opi- 
nion that the meat it contained was human flesh ; in conse- 

Voyages and Travels, No. 2. Vol. II. K 



66 M'Keevor's Voyage to Hudson's Bay. 

quence, it was not without the interference of some principal 
Indians, whose liberality of sentiment was more extensive 
than in the others, that the poor creature's life was saved. Many 
of the men cleaned and loaded their guns; others had their 
bows and arrows ready ; and even the women took possession 
of the hatchets, to kill this poor inoffensive creature, for no 
crime but that of travelling about 200 miles by himself, un- 
assisted by fire-arms for his support on his journey." 

It is asserted that the southern Indians, if once they are 
driven to this unnatural practice, become so fond of it that 
no person is safe in their company. They are, however, de- 
spised and neglected for ever after. 

From the instances which I have here related, particularly 
that by Mr. Hearne, we may conclude that cannibalism has 
always originated in extreme want, though it may afterwards 
be continued from other motives. 

During this frightful season, the whole animal creation, in- 
stead of the usual variety which exists during the summer, 
puts on the " winter robe of purest white." Even animals 
which have been brought from this country become, at this 
period, of a milk-white colour. It is a difficult matter to say 
what purposes in the animal economy this singular change 
may serve. It once occurred to me, that perhaps a white 
surface might possess less radiating powers, and in this way 
preserve to the animal body a quantity of caloric, which would 
otherwise be dissipated by the intense cold of the climate. 
I found, however, that on placing a canister, constructed after 
Mr. Lesslie's directions, and on which I had pasted portions 
of different coloured skins in the focus of a concave mirror, 
that there was uot the slightest difference in the effects pro- 
duced on the differential thermometer. There is, in fact, but 
little known of a satisfactory nature on this interesting sub- 
ject ; I shall, therefore, drop it here, lest, by substituting con- 
jecture in the place of more solid information, I might disgust 
the sensible reader. Another change is observed to take 
place in the animal creation at this time, the wise intentions 
of which are sufficiently obvious : the skin of every animal is 
covered with a finer and longer fur* than they possessed dur- 



* A corresponding change, we find, takes place in warm climates. Thus 
the sheep in Africa has a coarse hair snbstituted in place of its wool ; and the 
dog loses its coat entirely, and has a smooth and soft skin. Goats also un- 
dergo a considerable alteration. A person unacquainted with this change, 
would hardly belie\e that the Cashmere shawls, which are sold at such an 
enormous high price, could be the produce of that animal. — Rees's Cyclop. 






M i Keevor's Voyage to Hudson's Buy. 67 

ing the summer; thus the clothing of each is admirably 
adapted to the rigours of its situation. The fox and the wolf, 
which in temperate climates have but comparatively short 
hair, in these frozen regions are covered with a fine, long, and 
thick fur. The beaver and the ermine, which are found in 
the greatest abundance in these high latitudes, are remark- 
able for the warmth and delicacy of their furs. It is owing 
to these changes that the peltry of northern climes are so 
much admired, and so highly valued. 

About May, nature again resumes her wonted liberty ; the 
ice begins to drift away, the snows to dissolve, and the ani- 
mals to resume their usual variety of colour. About June 
the hot weather commences ; and, in a short time, the heat 
is so intense as to scorch the face of the natives. A rapid and 
luxurious vegetation now sets in; so that, in a short time, in- 
stead of the waste and dreary appearance which but a little 
before presented itself, the eye is refreshed with a rich and 
beautiful verdure. This change, indeed, is so rapid, that it 
is probably going on for a considerable time before the snows 
melt away. Even in this country I have frequently observed, 
that when heavy snow has fallen at the close of a long- and 
severe winter, it has been pushed off, as it were, by the young 
shoots projecting themselves through it; and this, though the 
temperature of the air was below 32°. It is very likely, in- 
deed, that but for this covering, vegetation would have been 
considerably retarded. 

The remarkable increase of heat which is observed here, 
during the summer months, is owing, in a great measure, to 
the length of time the sun remains above the horizon ; thus 
compensating for the shortness of its stay, as also to the slow- 
ness with which an equilibrium of temperature, by the circu- 
lation of the atmosphere, takes place. Its excess, however, 
is moderated by the large quantity of caloric which those 
immense masses of ice and snow absorb while passing to the 
fluid form. I may also remark, that the rigour of winter 
must also be considerably mitigated by the warmth evolved, 
as congelation again begins to spread over those dreary re- 
treats. 

Dr. Darwin tells us, that it was in consequence of the want 
of this protection that many Lapland and Alpine plants pe- 
rished in the botanic garden at Upsal, although the cold was 
not more intense than what prevails for a great part of the 
year in their native situations ; but in those climates, the fall 
of snow commonly commences with the diminished tempera- 
ture of the season, and in this manner it affords a protection 

K2 



68 M'Keevor's Voyage to Hudson's Bay. 

to the vegetable tribes against the increasing coldness of the 
weather. There are even many plants,* particularly lichens 
and mosses, which thrive only in the coldest climates, and 
continue to live when the thermometer is many degrees below 
of Fahrenheit. Besides the protective covering which the 
snow affords, they are also enabled to resist this extreme, by 
means of the power f which they possess, in common with all 
organized beings, of preserving a certain temperature inde- 
pendent of external circumstances. 

During the several excursions which I made into the woods 
while on shore, I have gathered a considerable quantity of 
gooseberries, currants, and strawberries. Cranberries are also 
to be found in great abundance. The gooseberries were very 
large, and of a remarkably fine flavour ; they are all red, at 
least I never saw any others ; the bushes are in every respect 
similar to those of this country, but that they are much lower, 
seldom exceeding two feet high. The currants were very 
fine ; both red and black "appeared very abundant ; the latter, 
however, are said to be the most plentiful. American straw- 
berries are called by the Indians ooteagh minik, from their 
resemblance to a heart; their flavour is delicious, much supe- 
rior, I think, to that produced by cultivation. The cranberry 
found here appears to belong to the species vaccinium ma- 
crocurpon. The following are its characters: corolla pink, 
deeply four-cleft : leaves elliptic, oblong, entire, slightly re- 
volute, obtuse, smooth : stems ascending : flowers lateral, fila- 
ments purple, downy : anthers yellow, converging, without 
spurs : the germen is smooth : the berry is pear-shaped, crim- 
son, and of a peculiar flavour. We packed a large quantity 
of them in small casks, and used them on the passage; they 
made remarkably nice pies. Sir Joseph Banks advises us, in 
order to have this species of cranberry, to cultivate it in an 
artificial bog, with plenty of water. He assures us, that a 
few square yards of ground occupied in this way, will yield 
as many cranberries as any family can use. 

I shall here give an account of the other plants which I 

* Thus (the lichen langiferinus) coral moss vegetates beneath the snow in 
Siberia, where the degree of heat is always about 40°, that is, in the medium 
between the freezing point and the common heat of the earth. This vege^- 
table is for many months of the winter the sole food of the rein-deer, who 
digs furrows in the snow, and scrapes it up; and as the milk and flesh of this 
animal are almost the only sustenance which can be procured by the natives 
during the long winters of those high latitudes, this moss may be said to sup- 
port millions of mankind. — See Darwin's Zoonomia. 

t Hence the common observation that snow is for a long time dissolved 
on hedges before it disappears from the neighbouring path-way. 



JPKeevor's Voyage to Hudson's Bay." 69 

collected during these excursions. The most abundant is the 
sorrel, belonging to the species oxalis striata, or yellow up- 
right wood-sorrel. The root is creeping : stem erect, branched : 
leaflets inversely heart-shaped : umbels stalked : axillary : 
solitary: many-flowered. The flowers are numerous, small, 
yellow: stamens covered with a downy substance. 

Coltsfoot is also very common : it appeared to belong to the 
species tvpilago sagittata. The flowers were radiated, and of 
a light flesh-colour, with short obtuse rays : panicle dense : 
ovate : level-topped : radical leaves, oblong : acute : arrow- 
shaped : entire, with obtuse lobes. 

Scurvy-grass, or cochlearia Grcenlandica, is found here, as 
in all northern countries, in great plenty. The root of this 
herb is white, rather thick, elongated, covered with hairy 
fibres : the whole herb is smooth, somewhat fleshy, very various 
in size : stems leafy, angular, branched in a corymbose man- 
ner. Flowers white : calyx obtuse : spreading : concave : 
petals inversely egg-shaped : entire : silicles globular : 
slightly veined : crowned with a short style : seeds, five or six 
in a shell. It has a warm and bitter taste; a pungent, rather 
unpleasant smell, when bruised. Its active matter is ex- 
tracted by maceration in proof spirit, and is said to be of 
great use in scurvy ; but of this I have had no experience. 

Chick-weed is very common, and belongs to the species 
arenaria luterifloriq, or side-flowing sand-wort. The leaves 
are ovate : obtuse : peduncles lateral : two-flowered. The 
stem is short, small, simple : leaves smooth, on short foot- 
stalks : peduncles single : long: bifid: axillary : corolla larger 
than the calyx. 

I found a considerable number of auriculas in the glen 
near the factory ; they appeared to belong to the species of 
primula corturoides. The leaves are of a fine green colour, 
without any mealiness ; variously lobed, and toothed : flowers 
purple, and very handsome. 

There is also an herb, called by the Indians jackasheypuk, 
found here, though rather in sparing quantity. It much re- 
sembles creeping-box ; and is only used by the English, or 
Indians, to mix with tobacco, which makes it smoke mild and 
pleasant. 

During these excursions we were a good deal annoyed with 
the musquitos, having neglected to provide ourselves with any 
means of defence against their troublesome bites. These in- 
sects are of the gnat tribe, and subsist on the blood and juices 
of larger animals, which they suck by means of their pro- 
boscis. In the larva state they live in stagnant waters. They 
have a small respiratory tube near the tail, and the head armed 



70 M'Keevor's Voyage to Hudson's Bay. 

with hooks, by means of which they seize upon and secure 
their prey. The pupa is incurvated and subovate, with respi- 
ratory tubes near the head. They appear to belong to the 
species culex pipiens, being cinereous with eight brown rings; 
the antenna? of the male are pectinated. They abound prin- 
cipally in the neighbourhood of marshes, low grounds, and 
stagnant water. Wherever they fix their sting a little tumour 
or pustule usually arises. The disagreeable itching which 
this excites is most effectually allayed by the application of vo- 
latile alkali ; the application of cold water also affords relief. 

The aurora? borealis are not only singularly beautiful in 
their appearance, but afford to travellers, by their almost con- 
stant effulgence, a very beautiful light during the entire night; 
sometimes, indeed, it diffuses a variegated splendour, which 
is not inferior to that of the full- moon. They generally stretch 
from north-east to north-west, and are much fainter in the 
former quarter. In its appearance it resembles electrical light 
when viewed in a vacuum. They always commence like a mist, 
on the northern part of the horizon, which is then clearer towards 
the west. This thickness of the air commonly arranges itself 
in th,e form of the segment of a circle. The point of its cir- 
cumference that is visible soon acquires a border of a whiteish 
light, which gradually increases, and from whence proceeds 
one or several luminous arches. At this period the darting- of 
the coloured rays commences, some from the segment of a circle, 
and others from the arch itself; by their motion, the space 
which they bear always seems open, and their appearances 
increase in motion and vividness of colour, with a propor- 
tionate augmentation of the whole meteor. The various co- 
ruscations cause an appearance of great confusion, and it occa- 
sionally seems to vanish in part, speedily re-appearing with 
increased splendour.* They are frequently accompanied with 
a rustling or whizzing kind of noise. This I have never heard, 
but have been informed of the fact by persons who have re- 
sided many years in the country. 

Many attempts have been made to assign the immediate 
cause of this phenomenon. Ever since the identity of light- 
ning, and of the electric matter, has been ascertained, philo- 
sophers have been naturally led to look for the explication of 
aerial meteors in the principles of electricity, and there is now, 
1 believe, but little doubt that most of them, but particularly 



* 1 1 ave frequently hung a thermometer on deck while the light was most 
intense, but could not observe that there was any elevation whatever pro- 
duced. 



M'Keevor's Voyage to Hudson's Bay, 71 

that of which we have been speaking*, depends upon these 
principles. Dr. Hamilton, of this city, was, it seems, the first 
who attempted to discover any positive evidence of the elec- 
trical nature of the aurora borealis. The only proof, however, 
which he advances is an experiment of Hawkesbier, by which 
the electrical fluid is shown to assume appearances resembling 
the aurora borealis, when it passes through a vacuum. He 
observed, that when the air was most perfectly exhausted the 
streams of electrical matter were then quite white ; but when 
a small quantity of air was let in, the light assumed more of a 
purple colour. The flashing of the light, therefore, from the 
dense region of the atmosphere into such as are more rare, and 
the transition through mediums of different densities, he con- 
siders as the cause of the aurora, and of the different colours 
it assumes. Dr. Halley, and, more lately, Mr. Dalton, have 
advanced many ingenious arguments in favour of the opinion 
that this phenomenon depends on the quantity of magnetic 
fluid existing in the atmosphere, the polarity of magnets hav- 
ing been observed to be disturbed during its appearance. It 
has been proved, however, particularly by Perecotte, that this 
disturbance does not always take place on such occasions ; 
and, as the same circumstance is observed to happen when the 
atmosphere is in a positive state of electricity; the theory itself 
becomes highly questionable. Whatever may be the imme- 
diate cause of this phenomenon, it is evidently connected with 
the condensation of vapour from the air, as, during their 
appearance, there always is observed a copious deposition of 
dew, or hoar-frost. Hence, perhaps, this meteor* is so common 
in those latitudes where the vericular vapour hangs near to the 
earth's surface, and when its evaporation and precipitation are 
slowly taking place. 

The halos which occasionally surround the sun and moon de- 
serve to be next considered. This appearance occurs only when 
there is a slight fog in the atmosphere. They rarely accompany 
the sun, owing to these vapours being so readily dissipated by 
the calorific rays of that planet. This phenomenon appears to 
be occasioned by the rays of light striking against a cloud, or 
body of vapour, which, although considerably uniform and 
dense, is still so rare as to allow them to be scattered at the 
point of incidence, and which are thus reflected and refracted, 



*See, on this subject, Robertson's History of the Atmosphere. — Dr. Halley's 
Philosophical Transactions, No. 347, p. 406.— Kirwan's Transactions of the 
Royal Irish Academy, 1778, p. 80.— Franklin's Experiments and Observa- 
tions, 1769, p. 49.— Philosophical Transactions, Vol. xlviii. Part 1. p. 358. 
— Priestly 's History of Electricity. 



•?£ M'Keevor's Voyage to Hudson*s Bay. 

from every point around giving- the appearance of a luminous 
circle. An appearance, not unlike this, may sometimes be ob- 
served round the lights in the streets during damp weather; 
or, by rubbing the eyes also, a similar appearance may be ob- 
served, owing to the refraction of the rays of light as they 
reach the eyes, by the contents of the carunculae lachrymales 
and glands of the eye-lids, which, owing to the pressure, are 
spread over the surface of the cornea. 

In these remote latitudes the stars are said to twinkle with 
a fiery redness ; but this I did not observe. The cone of red 
light which is observed to accompany the rising and setting 
of the sun, in this and other northern countries, is probably 
owing to the great quantity of vericular vapour with which the 
lower parts of the atmosphere are always loaded in these cli- 
mates. 



73 



Vocabulary of the Dialects. 

I shall here give a few words of Northern and Chippeway 
Indian language, which I wrote down during my stay at Fort 
York, beginning with that of the Oochepayyans, or northern 
Indians. I am principally indebted to Mr. Swaine, one of the 
inland governors, to whom I take this opportunity of return- 



ing many thanks 


for the kind 


and polite attention which 


received from him while at York Fort. 


I - - . . 


Nitha. 




Ye - - - - Kithawow, 


Thou - - - 


Kihta. 




He, or she - - Witha. 


We - - - 


Withaw 


OW. 


You and I - - Kithanow. 


They - - - 


Nithanan. 




A knife - 


„ 


— 


- Muk a man. ^ 


A fork 


. 


m 


- Chas chas chip muin. 


A hog 


. 


. 


- Koo koos. *•* 


A fire 


- 


m 


- Ukastaoo. v 


A house - 


- 


- 


- Has has heguin. 


Bread 


. 


_ 


- Herakanou. 


A duck - 


. 


_ 


- Sheeship. 


A goose - 


- 


. 


- Nischow. 


A swan - 


- 


. 


- Wap a say. ^ 

- Pich assummin. 


Give me - 


- 


. 


A coat 


. 


m 


- Shutagan. 


A shoe 


. 


• 


- 3fuskasin. 


A hat 


. 


. 


- Stutan. 


Hair 


- 


_ 


- Piiyy. 

- Arkik. 


A kettle - 


m 


. 


A pot 

A hand - 


- 


- 


- Minniguaggan. 


;- 


- 


- Michichi. 


A man «^W 


- 


- Mapin. u 


A woman 


- 


m 


- Huskow. 


A small canoe 


- 


- Wossquichiman. 


A ship 


- 


- 


- Quassatik. 


A star 


- 


- 


- Achak. 


An evil spirit - 


. 


- Willikoo. 


A pipe - 


- 


- 


- Oospoggan. 


A piece of stick 


- 


- Mistik. 


A handkerchief 


- 


- Tapastaggan. 


A pair of stockings 


- 


- Ootassa. 


A watch 


- 


- 


- Pisumakan. 


A porcupine 




- 


- Kaquaw. 


A beaver 


. 


- 


- Amisk. 


A buffaloe 


• 


_ 


- Mistus. 


A dog - 


. 


. 


- Atim. 


Voyages and 


Travels 


, No. 2. Vol. II. L 



74 



M'Keevor's Voyage to Hudson's Bay. 



A horse 

Paint 

A bow - 

An arrow 

A gun - 

A hatchet 

A trout 

A sturgeon 

Feathers 

A rope - 

A paddle 

A deer - 

A wolf - 

A leg - 

A foot - 

A candle 

A box - 

A key - 

Flesh - 

A snow shoe - 

The Supreme Being - 

A pair of snuffers 

A window 

A tree growing- 

The bark of a tree 

A nmsquitoe - 

A sand-fly 

A bull-dog 

A frog - 

A toad - - 

A day sun 

A night sun - 

A fox - 

An otter 

A martin 

A bear 

A white bear - 

A mink 

An ermin 

A skunk 

A badger 

A squirrel 

A squirrel 

An owl - 

A partridge - 

A plover 



- Mistatam. 

- Oothuman. 

- Achapi. 

- Akusk. 

- Paskisaggan. 

- Chikahaggan. 

- Mamakus. 

- Hamaoo. 

- Oopaawaoo. 

- Pinriniquan. 

- Upowoi. 

- Atik. 

- Managan. 

- Uskat. 

- Hoossit. 

- Wasasuskatoonamaooin, 

- Mislikooit. 

- Apilukahagin. 

- Wiaash. 

- Kithanowweasamak. 

- Kisshamanatou. 

- Kikisouhaggan. 

- Wassanamouin. 

- Mistikgahchimmussoot, 

- Wetthakeisk. 

- Luggimaoo. 

- Pikoos. 

- Mississak. 

- Atheek. 

- Pippikootalayoo. 

- Kishikowapissim. 

- Tibbiskowapissim. 

- Makashis. 

- Nukik. 

- Wapastan. 

- Musquah. 

- Mahpusk. 

- Shaquasshoo. 

- Sikus. 

- Sikak. 

~ Mistamusk* 

- Anikoochus. 

- Sassakawappiskoos. 
-, Ohoo. 

- Pethayoo. 

- Pusscoochussin. 



M'Keevor's Voyage to Hudson 1 s Bay. 



75 



A mouse 

Brandy - 

Powder 

A gun - 

A flint - 

A steel - 

A ramrod 

The wind 

Tobacco 

The nose 

The mouth - 

The chin 

A tooth 

The ear 

The eye 

The cheeks - 

Countryman - 

Northern lights 

Thunder 

Lightning 

Snow - 

Cold - 

Ice - 

A verv cold day 

One ' - " ".- 

Two - 

Three - . - 

Four - 

Five - 

Six 

Seven - 

Eight - - 

Nine - 

Ten - 

A lark - 

The ground - 

A tent - - 

A shirt - 

A lock - 

The arm - 

The thigh - 

Good - 

Bad - 

A stone 

A book, or any thing written 

A spy-glass - 

L2 



Appacoosish. 

Iscootawahpoi. 

Kusketayoo. 

Parkissceggan. 

Chakasahuggan. 

Apeth. 

Cikuchiskkahaganatik. 

Thutin. 

Chisthamon. 

Oocoo. 

Ootoon. 

Wasquineyoo. 

Oowipit. 

Ootawaki. 

Ooskishik. 

Oowanawe. 

Tootamuk. 

Chipaak. 

Pithashoouck. 

Wasusquitaoo. 

Koona. 

Kishinou. 

Miskoome, 

Naspichkishanou. 

Piak. 

Nishoo. 

Nistoo. 

Naoo. 

Naanin. 

Ootwasik. 

Niswassik. 

Swasik. 

Sak. 

Mitath. 

Makawk. 

Uski. 

Migoapek. 

Pukayanasagas. 

Alhuppissaik. 

Uspittooin. 

Pawom. 

Mithawashin. 

Mathatin. 

Asini. 

Misanahagan. 

Oothahpahchiggun. 



76 



A few familiar Phrases in the Chippeway Language. 

I may here remark, that this is one of the mother-tongues of 
North America, and is usually spoken among- the chiefs, who 
reside about the great lakes, as far south as the Ohio, and 
as far north as Hudson's Bay. 
How do you do, friend ? - - Way way nee jee ? 
In good health, I thank you. - Meegwotch nobumpemurtus. 
What news ?------ Tarnin mergunxmegal ? 

I have none. ------ Cau ween arwayyor. 

Have you had a good hunt this } Nishisghin geosay nogome 

winter ? ------J bebone ? 

Yes, a very good hunt. - - Angaymer o hisshishin. 
What lake did you hunt at last } Hawwaneeyawassakiegan kee 

winter ? -.----£ geosay ? 

At the skunk lake. - - - - Sheekark sakiegan. 

What is there at that lake ? - Waygonin woity ha sakiegan. 
Beaver, but not much. - - Amik cawween gwotch. 
This is English. - - - - Maunder saggonash. 

Let us eat. ------ Hawwissinnimin. 

It is very good. - - - - - Hunjeyta o hishshishin. 

Sit down. ------ Mantetappy. 

I want to smoke a pipe. - - Nee wee suggersoy. 
I will go. - - - - - - Nin gamarcha. 

That is right. ----- Neegwoyack. 

Not yet. ------- Kamarchy. 

How many beaver-skins will > Andersoy appiminiquy keetar- 

you take for this % - - - £ penan mor ? 
Twenty. ------- Neesh tanner. 

Take them, friend. - - - Tarpenan, neecarnis. 
Your health, friend. - - - Kee tallenemanco. 
I love you. ------ Neezargaykeen. 

I am well. ------ Pemartissey nin. 

I am dry. ------ Sparchlay nin, 

I am hungry. ----- Bocketty nin. 

I am cold. ------ Geessennar nin. 

I am lazy. ------ Kittinnin. 

I will go to bed. - - - - Peshemo hin gamarchar. 

Get up, friend. ----- Genishear, neegee. 

Take courage. Farewell, 7 Haguarmissey, way, wayne- 

friend. ------_j gee. 



VOYAGE 



TO THE 



NORTH POLE, 



IN THE FRIGATE THE SYRENE; 



INCLUDING 



A PHYSICAL AND GEOGRAPHICAL NOTICE 



RELATIVE TO 



THE ISLAND OF ICELAND. 



BY THE 

CHEVALIER DE LA POIX DE FREMINVILLE, 

LIEUTENANT, CHIEF OF THE BRIGADE OF THE MARINE CADETS, AND A 
MEMBER OF SEVERAL LEARNED SOCIETIES. 



ZOJVJ90JV: 



PRINTED FOR SIR RICHARD PHILLIPS AND Co. 

BRIDE-COURT, BRIDGE-STREET. 

1819. - 



THE CHEVALIER DE FREMINVILLE 

TO THE EDITOR. 



Brest, June 19, 1819. 
At a time when the Literati of Europe are waiting with 
anxiety the result of the new expedition which the English 
government have sent to explore the passage to the North 
Pole, and to resolve the problem whether Greenland be an 
island ; it may be presumed that a brief relation of a Voyage 
to the North Sea, in 1806, performed by some officers of the 
French marine, of whom I was one, will prove acceptable 
and interesting. 

This expedition, after encountering a number of difficulties, 
penetrated to latitude 80° ; and it will be observed, that the 
attempt made by the English last year could only penetrate 
those seas to the latitude of 80' 32". In the course of our 
voyage, the various interesting incidents that occurred, par- 
ticularly at the Island of Iceland, will render this brief 
narrative, I venture to affirm, not only worthy of observation, 
but highly interesting. 



VOYAGE 



TO THE 



NORTH POLE 



Relation of a Voyage made to the North Pole, in the Fri- 
gate the Syrene ; including a Physical and Geographical 
Notice relative to the Island of Iceland. By the Che- 
valier de la Poix de Freminville, Lieutenant, Chief of 
the Brigade of the Company of the Marine Cadets, and a 
Member of several learned Societies. 

Since the time of Duguay Trouin, the French government 
had not turned its attention to the North Seas. In the course 
of the last war, an expedition to these seas was projected, for 
the purpose of annoying the whale-fishery carried on there by 
the English, and to take and destroy the vast fleets that are 
annually employed by them in this trade. Such a scheme 
was pregnant with much danger ; nevertheless, the advan- 
tages likely to result from it were great in more relations than 
one. Government, therefore, now resolved to put the plan in 
practice ; and, in consequence, three frigates were armed. 
The command of the squadron was confided to Captain le 
Due, an experienced seaman, who had already made several 
voyages in the Hyperborean Ocean. 

A resolution was taken to collect every possible advantage 
from an expedition that should advance as near as possible to 
the pole, to penetrate into seas almost hitherto unexplored ; 
military operations were not to be the only object; the sciences 
were to come in for a share of the probable benefits. Captain 
le Due, in his instructions, was directed to let slip no oppor- 
tunity to avail himself of any astronomical and geographical 
observations and facts that might conduce to the improve- 
ment of our hydrography, to this day very imperfect, with re^ 
spect to the North Seas. 

The minister of marine determined that an officer should 
embark, as supplementary, in the frigate the Syrene, wherein 
the commodore sailed, to superintend, in an especial manner, 
the hydrographic labours. I was selected for this undertak- 
ing ; a better choice might doubtless have been made ; but 



78 Freminvilles Voyage to the North Pole. 

well knowing how to value a distinction of this honourable 
kind, I can with truth affirm, that our scientific operations, 
during" the voyage, are entitled to a measure of public confi- 
dence. On our return, our papers were submitted to the in- 
spection of the illustrious Bougainville ; and this prince of 
French navigators was pleased to sanction them with his ap- 
probation. 

The division, or squadron, consisting of the frigates the 
Syrene, the Gueriere, and the Revanche, put to sea on the 
28th of March, 1806. After frequent calms for a number of 
days together, in the gulph of Gascony, a very violent gale 
dispersed them, and obliged the Syrene to make for the Azore 
Islands, which had been fixed upon as the first point of ren- 
dezvous in case of separation. 

After cruising two days within view of the isles of Corvo 
and Flores, the squadron again got together, and immediately 
bore away in a northerly direction. 

We were not long before we felt the effects of a piercing 
cold, which gave us reason to regret the mild temperature of 
the Azores. Continual foul weather, which did not allow us 
for fifteen days to sail, except with lowered topsails, led the 
captain to conceive, that as the rigorous season was likely to 
be of longer continuance than usual, it was too soon to at- 
tempt a passage into the frigid zone ; in consequence of this, 
he determined to cruise about ten or twelve days in the lati- 
tude of Cape Farewell, on the coast of Greenland. 

Our course, in coming from the Azores to these latitudes, 
had passed over the points wherein a number of doubtful spots 
are marked on the great chart of the Atlantic Ocean, pub- 
lished in 1786; and which, perhaps, have no existence, or only 
form the little island of Jaquet, inaccurately fixed by the 
voyagers to Newfoundland ; their reports, it is certain, have 
often obtained more credit than they were entitled to. 

We steered for ten days on the parallel of 59 deg. 30 min. 
but having to encounter very rough gales of a northerly wind, 
all our endeavours to keep longer in that bearing were fruit- 
less. Being obliged to keep close to the Cape, we were driven 
back to the south, as far as the 58th parallel. To make some 
advantage of a circumstance so contrary, we beat about for 
the Isle of Bas, or Wrisland, placed in the chart of M. de 
Verdun in 58 deg. 11 min. lat. N. and in 28 deg. 13 min. Ion. 
W. This islet, which was nothing but an extinguished vol- 
cano, had become a rendezvous for the Greenland fishermen 
who first discovered it; the Dutch had formed some establish- 
ments on it, for the preparation of whale-oil, but it disap- 
peared about sixty years ago, and has never since been 



Freminville's Voyage to the North Pole. H9 

noticed. It is conceived, that, like many other volcanic islets, 
it has been swallowed up by some submarine convulsion, ex- 
amples of the like having frequently occurred. 

Reaching" the point assigned to the Isle of Bas, in the chart 
above cited, we could trace no vestige of it ; but as we had 
a rouoh sea, with short and rippling waves, we judged we 
might be over the spot it once occupied. We sounded for 
better assurance, but a line of 200 fathoms could find no 
bottom. Such submarine phenomena, doubtless the most ex- 
traordinary of any that volcanic eruptions produce, are fre- 
quent in the Northern Ocean, at least in the tracks occupied 
by the lono- volcanic chain that stretches from the 58th to the 
72d degree of latitude. This chain commences to the north 
of Scotland ; and the basal tic^rchi pel agos of the Hebrides, of 
the Orkneys, and Shetland Isles, form the first rings of it. 
Stretching afterwards to the N. W. across the oceanic whirl- 
pools, it appears again at the Ferro Islands, then at Iceland, 
the most extensive theatre of ignivomous eruptions to be found 
on the surface of our globe. From Iceland, the chain goes 
on to join the Isle of Jean Mayen, or Trinity, where it appears 
to end, after traversing under water a space of more than 260 
marine leagues. In advancing more to the north, we find 
nothing in the character of the lands that presents features of 
a volcanic soil ; Bear's Island, and Spitzberg, are wholly cal- 
careous. 

The weather now becoming milder, we bore away for the 
north ; and in a few days we had sight of the coasts of Ice- 
land. Their dark profile delineated a rough sketch of its 
steep, rocky, indented shores, on a misty horizon ; in theN. W.at 
a very considerable distance, appeared an enormous mountain, 
which we judged might be Mount Hecla; but the bad wea- 
ther, for three days successively, not admitting of any astro- 
nomical observations, I will not affirm that it was actually that 
famous volcano, which had now been in a tranquil state the 
twelve preceding years. 

We made sail for the north-east, coasting the land, but at a 
considerable distance; the weather cleared up, during the 
short night which succeeded to the day of our seeing 
land, and a pure serene sky on the day ensuing brought to 
view, on another point of the coast, a jokul, or mountain, of a 
prodigious height, entirely covered with snow ; its summit, 
which reached far above the clouds, reflected the rays of the 
rising sun, which tinging it with a beautiful rose-colour, 
blended insensibly with the whiteness of its flanks, and pro- 
duced an admirable effect. Our cbservations enabled us to 



80 jFreminville's Voyage to the North Pole. 

ascertain this mountain for the jocul of Knapafells, on the 
point of Wester, to the S. E. of the island. 

Being- thus assured of our position, we bore away at large, 
keeping always to the E. N. E. We were in the track 
wherein the maps generally place the Isle of Enckuysen, the 
existence of which was, nevertheless, considered as very 
doubtful. In our course we must have passed directly over 
the point wherein the chart of Bellin places it. As the prob- 
lem of its existence was a matter of some interest to resolve, 
and we could effect it without going out of our course, we 
stationed some of our company on the look-out. 

At night-fall some of the men gave notice of a shoal, or 
ridge, a-head ; in fact, the sea, at a little distance in front, 
seemed to us covered with thousands of birds, of the kind of 
petrels and seagulls, the vast numbers of which, from their 
white plumage, resembled at a distance the froth of waves 
rippling over breakers ; we went about a mile to windward of 
the pretended shoal, and discovered it to be the floating and 
half putrid carcase of a dead whale, thus serving for food to 
an immense multitude of sea-fowl. 

Next day, May 12, we discovered land ; it was, in reality, 
the Isle of Enckuysen, to the N. N. W. of us, at the distance 
of about two leagues and a half. We fixed the position of its 
southerly point at 64 deg. 54 min. lat. and 12 deg. 48 min. 
long. W. 

The Isle of Enckuysen, generally placed in the charts much 
too westerly of its real situation, and too near the coast of 
Iceland, appeared to us to be about four leagues in extent, in 
the direction of N. N. E. to S. S. W. ; it has just elevation 
enough not to render the approach dangerous. 

May 14th, we crossed the Arctic polar circle at 10 deg. 14 
min. long. W. 

May 17th. In the latitude of 72 deg. we noticed, with sur- 
prize, the first floating ice ; it was unusual for the season to 
meet with ice so early ; it is usually to be found about the 
middle of May, but only in from 76 to 80 degrees of latitude. 
Captain Phipps sent, in 1773, from England, to explore the 
passage of the Pole, could see no ice till he had reached the 
N. W. part of the coast of Spitzberg. 

Next day we came abreast of a very large island of floating 
ice, with fleaks of prodigious dimensions; these masses, doubt- 
less detached from the immense banks that surround the 
Spitzberg, from the diversity of their shapes, and their curious 
infractions and indentations, presented a spectacle altogether 
unique for most of our company. Their friction produced a 



Freminvilles Voyage to the North Pole, 81 

stunning kind of noise, like that which the sea-water makes 
over a strand of pebbles and gravel. 

We cleared those mountains of ice-flakes, many of which 
rose to the height of our main-top -mast; theyjwere transparent, 
and of a most beautiful azure blue. 

Still bearing on to the N. E. we endeavoured to near Beering 
Island (Beereh Eylandt,) situated in 74 deg. 33 min. lat. 
Its extent is not above four or five leagues. It is reported 
that the Russians have discovered in it a very rich silver 
mine. 

May 19th, at midnight, (th ire was no darkness then during 
the night) a bluish lustre, visible in the horizon, warned us of 
the approach of the ice. This phenomenon, produced by the 
refraction of the rays of light on the water, is a sure sign of 
the proximity of considerable bergs ; in fact, we observed one 
soon after, but consisting of blocks so large and so close toge- 
ther, that there appeared no interval through which we could 
penetrate. We coasted along it for several hours; it was covered 
with thousands of phoca, that is, seals, or sea-calves (phoca 
vitvlina, L.) that were rolling about, and seemed to be sporting 
in the snow. We were so near that we could salute them with 
discharges of our musketry, but were unable to kill any, as the 
balls merely slid over their hard smooth skin without piercing 
it. Knowing that they were dispatched at once with a blow 
on the nose, we prepared a boat and descended, to the num- 
ber of seven or eight, among immense heaps, the smallest of 
which were five feet in length. Our presence did not terrify 
them, and they viewed us with a stupid kind of stare. We 
knocked some of them on the head with our oars, when they 
tried to make their escape, uttering a noise like the shrill 
barking of a young dog. 

It is generally thought that seals derive the faculty which 
they possess of staying long under water, to the botal aperture, 
which they preserve during life.* I wished to inform myself 
on this important point of comparative anatomy, and took care 
to open the heart of one of those we had taken ; I found the 
notion to be erroneous, that the botal aperture was entirely 
closed, and that, of course, the blood could not pass from the 
veins into the arterial system without previously crossing the 
lungs; then to disengage itself by the contact of the external 
air from the carbone which it contains. It is evident, there- 
fore, that although seals may plunge under water for a consi- 



* In hot-blooded animals, the botal aperture is only to be found in the 
foetus, and becomes extinct instantly after the birth. 

Voyages and Travels, No. 2. Vol. II. M 



82 Freminmlle*$ Voyage to the North Pole. 

derable time, respiration is as necessary to promote the cir«* 
dilation of their blood as it is in other mammiferous ani- 
mals ; neither can they dispense with the necessity of com. 
ing up to the surface of the water, from time to time, to take 
breath. 

I found the stomach of my seal filled with intestinal worms 
alive, that appeared to me to belong* to the genus of echinor- 
hyncs. 

In proceeding along the borders of the ice, we found it 
stretching along to the east, after having obliged us to mount 
up to 75 deg. 28 min. and having, in course, passed by 
the latitude of Beering Island, the pursuit of which we now 
discontinued. 

May 22d, a profound calm surprized us, in sight of an island 
of ice of considerable length and extent. As long as the calm 
lasted we were hemmed round with a groupe of cetaceous ani- 
mals, from twenty-five to thirty feet in length, marked as the 
genus Defphinus, by Linnaeus, but which, I conceive, ought 
to constitute a new species. I have already published a de- 
scription of them, with cuts, in the Bulletin of Sciences of 
the Philomathic Society, under the name of Delphinus Coro- 
natus, or the Crowned Dolphin ; this epithet comes from two 
concentric circles, of a yellow colour, that these animals have 
on the crown of the head. 

A breeze springing up in the night, we were drawing nearer 
to the islet of ice that stood to the north of us; we tried to 
find an opening or passage, but none appeared; and after 
coasting it a long time, keeping to the east, we perceived it 
ready to join another considerable mass, and that the interval 
between them was so narrow and so perplexed with floating 
flakes and heaps of ice, that a passage was impracticable. We 
tacked about with an intention to double its western extremity, 
which we could not accomplish till next day. 

After clearing it we bore to the north-east, falling straight 
in with the south Cape of Spitzberg, which we were in hopes 
of soon reaching; but in this we were disappointed, as another 
island of ice came to present new obstacles. On the eastern 
side of it we could perceive an opening or avenue ; we plunged 
into it, but scarcely had we entered, when a thick fog came 
over us and obliged us to exert particular care to avoid strik- 
ing against some of the large floating fragments of ice that 
surrounded us. 

The fog* lasted two hours ; when, clearing up, we could see 
the ice behind us closing up so as to intercept our return. 
We were now ingulphed on every side, immured as in a kind 
of basin that might be about two leagues in extent. This, to 






Freminmlles Voyage to the North Pole. 83 

us, was a situation truly alarming-.; we tacked about in every 
direction in quest of an outlet ; one only was visible ; but the 
floating fragments that blocked it up«made the attempt to be, 
at first, considered as impracticable. At length our comman- 
dant, finding the icy-basin that shut us in was condensing >and 
accumulating, decided that we had no time to lose, or hesitate 
between the certainty of being quickly locked in the ice and 
a solitary chance of escape. We made all sail then to get 
through this perilous streight; and, after running the risk a 
hundred times of being dashed against the floating shoals that 
were thickening around us, we were fortunate enough to clear 
the passage with the loss only of some sheets of our copper, 
that were carried away by icy morsels we had to bear up 
against. 

May 31st, we discovered the land of Spitzberg; at a very 
great distance we could trace the South Cape, which stood 
N.N.E. as also Hope Island, which lies a little more to the 
east, at a short distance. A solid plain of impenetrable ice 
prevented our getting near it, and, being obliged to stretch 
along it in a run to the north-west, we soon lost sight of that 
dreary shore. 

June 3d, a deep inlet was visible in the middle of the im- 
mense islets of ice that we were coasting along ; we entered 
into it, and had a toilsome passage of about twelve hours ; but 
it was so blocked up, that we were obliged at last to return. 
A heavy gale from the S. W. bringing vast masses of icy frag- 
ments into contact, threatened to close in upon us, and it was 
not without prodigious exertions that we got at length into 
the open sea. 

We now began to lose all hopes of reaching Spitzberg, 
which was one part of our destination. Some days before we 
had captured some whale-ships, the captains of which assured 
us that they had been engaged in the same fruitless attempt, 
and that the ice had rendered all approach impracticable. 

Our ships' companies were very much worn down with in- 
cessant fatigue, in a painful navigation, that called for constant 
watching and active exertion. The scurvy was preying upon 
us, and some of our best seamen had fallen victims to it ; our 
water and wood grew scanty ; the want of wood prevented us 
from getting at water with the melted ice. We tried, but in 
vain, to procure heat enough for this purpose, by resorting to 
different methods in all the warmest parts of the ship. 

The perplexities of such a situation called for a speedy 
change of measures ; our chief, however, to shelter himself 
from every imputation of neglect, would make one more ef- 



84 Freminville's Voyage to the North Pole. 

fort to find a passage through the solid ice, advancing* as far 
north as possible ; in this hope, we kept continually bearing 
up along the chain of immoveable ice that stretched to the 
N.W. 

In fact, we reached the 80th degree of latitude, without 
gaining any inlet or opening. The whole vast plain, or rather 
continent of ice, lies in a direction to the west. We coasted 
it for several days without finding any break or interruption, 
and I am convinced that it joins all along to the ice that bor- 
ders the coast of Greenland. 

I shall not attempt to describe the impressions that the soli- 
tary and dreary aspect of this icy continent produced on our 
minds. Its situation on the limits of our globe, the profound 
silence pervading its vast domain, the total absence of animal 
life — every thing seemed to exhibit an image of death, and of 
all nature in mourning. The gloomy spectacle was not, 
however, without a sort of peculiar attraction ; masses of ice, 
illumined in different modes, reflecting the light in a thousand 
different ways, from the odd assemblage of their needle points 
or ends ; their fractures, their varied shapes, presented views 
as uncommon as they were astonishing*. We used frequently to 
compare them to the ruins of some most extensive capital dis- 
cerned at a distance ; the imagination taking wing, would de- 
pict colonnades, towers, steeples, castles, fortresses, &c. In the 
remote back-ground appeared a chain of lofty mountains of ice 
that terminated the horizon. 

There being no prospect of penetrating further north, and 
it being impossible to touch at Spitzberg, we resolved on 
steering southward, having taken and burnt, in the north 
seas, fifteen whale-fishery ships. 

Here we may remark, that Captain Phipps did not encoun- 
ter the chain of ice till he was north of Spitzberg, whereas it 
blocked up our passage at the 77th degree. 

In the course of our navigation in these parts, we never had 
a heavy sea, though the wind was frequently very high ; the 
waves were, in some measure, fettered under the mass of ice. 
We could observe, however, after Captain Phipps, on neariug 
the great banks, even in calm weather, big surges coming 
gently from the south. 

In those high latitudes the sky is seldom so clear as to be 
able to make astronomical observations. We availed ourselves 
of every favourable circumstance that occurred, but it was 
only three times that we could take the meridian altitude of 
the sun at midnight. 

Scarcity and scorbutic diseases called for prompt relief; 



Freminmlle's Voyage to the North Pole, * 85 

our commandant at first was making for the Bay of Stronsa, 
in Danish Lapland ; but contrary winds forced vis to relin- 
quish this intention, and to bear away for Iceland. 

July 3d, we were off Langeness, the N.E. point of that 
large island ; as we meant to bring up in the Bay of Patrix 
Fiord, at the opposite extremity, our course made us nearly 
go the circuit of it, and we seized the opportunity of adding 
to our geographical information, with respect to the coasts of a 
country so little known. 

Langeness, or Long Point, is easily to be distinguished ; 
it is a low land, stretching a great way into the sea. I take 
it to be the only part of the island that has so very little of ele- 
vation ; all the coasts are lofty, abrupt, and perpendicularly 
steep. Scarcely had we doubled this point, when we found 
hio-h lands over-hanging us like walls ; their rough and craggy 
indentations, the basaltic columns of their brown sides, feasted 
the eye with a spectacle truly picturesque ; but not a glimpse 
of verdure, no signs of vegetation were discernible on a soil 
of which Vulcan alone seems to have possessed the property. 
At a very great distance we could distinguish the smoking 
summit of Mount Krafte, a considerable volcano, that makes 
part of the mountainous chain in the N.E. of the island. 

On the 5th, we discovered the small island of Walzback, 
distant about five leagues from the Terra Firma; it stands 
so low, that it scarcely appears above the level of the 
sea. Kergueleu, who was in these seas in the years 1767 and 
1768, reports, from the evidence of the whale-fishers, that no 
passage existed between Walsback and Iceland, from a chain 
of breakers stretching through it. We determined to ascer- 
tain this point, and bore up into the passage, finding a consi- 
derable depth of water everywhere, as it is all along on the 
coast. We were continually sounding, and the lead always 
brought up a portion of heavy volcanic sand, or a kind of 
black puzzolane. 

July 6th, we reached the Isles of Portland, at the most 
southern extremity of the island ; it was at this point that the 
Marquis Verdun de la Crenne terminated his voyage of dis- 
covery ; when he came to visit Iceland, in 1771, in the frigate 
La Flore, having with him Borda and Pingre, for scientific 
purposes. The labours of those valuable men well deserve the 
praise of rigid accuracy ; we have observed that the chart pub- 
lished by them in 1776, with respect to all the parts of the 
coast of Iceland which they visited, that is to say, the part 
from the Isles of Portland to Patrix Fiord, is traced with a 
precision that leaves nothing to be wished for, either in point 
of positions or of configurations. 



86 Freminville's Voyage to the North Pole. 

We owe also a just tribute of eulogium to the engravings of 
the views of the coasts annexed to the relation of the voyage 
of La Flore, and designed by Ozanne, employed on board our 
frigate ; nothing can be more correct, even to the very 
smallest details. As to the views of the same portions of coast, 
engraved iu the relation of Kerguelen, they are rather to be 
censured than commended. 

After exploring the whole southern coast of Iceland, we 
passed between Cape Reikia-ness and the Rocks of the Birds, 
in Icelaudish, Ryke-yse. It was here that a very singular sub- 
marine phenomenon occurred, in 1783 ; the sea appeared 
covered with a light-bluish flame, through an extent of more 
than a mile; it lasted several hours, and occasioned a very 
great consternation among the inhabitants of the neighbouring 
coast. When the flame ceased, a small island appeared on 
the scite, the surface of which was covered with pumice-stones 
and volcanic ashes. This islet has since disappeared, proba- 
bly by another convulsion of the same kind. 

In proceeding northwards, we crossed the great gulph of 
Faxa Fiordur,* having a view of Mount Jengel, or the Jokul 
of the west; its top covered with snow, though at more than 
twenty leagues distance. This is taken to be the highest 
mountain in Iceland. 

It was in the gulph of Faxa Fiordur that we saw the sea 
covered with a sort of mollusca, or rather of radiaire, that 
seemed to constitute a new genus affiliated with the medusas 
and the heroes, I gave it the name of idya ; a description, 
with a plate of it, was published in the Bulletin of Sciences, 
under the name of idya Islandica, 

After doubling the Cape and Mount Jengel, we crossed 
the gulph of Breyde Fiordur; and, on the 13th of July, we 
entered the Bay of Patrix Fiord, where we anchored in eleven 
fathoms water, near the Danish factory. 

The Bay of Patrix Fiord lies in 65 deg. 35 min. 45 sec. 
N. lat. and 26 deg. 29 min. 53 sec. W. long.; like all the 
other bays of the island, it is very deep, and encompassed 
with lofty, abrupt mountains. The entrance to it is very easy, 
and there is no danger to be apprehended. 

The Danish factory stands on a low point, consisting of an- 
cient lavas; the anchorage is within the point. The Danish 
establishment is dividecl into three wooden houses, one of 
which serves as a dwelling for the director, and the others are 
warehouses. Round about lie scattered the wretched huts of 

* In Icelaudish, the word fiord, or fiordur, signifies a gulph, or bay ; 
jokul, or jockel, is appropriated to the high mountains. 



Freminville's Voyage to the. North Pole* $7 

the poor Icelanders, half buried in earth • the roofing 1 only, 
made of whales' ribs, rises above the surface. Behind these 
is a pool of fresh water, which has given to Patrix Fiord the 
Icelandish name of Vatneyre, the Water Town. 

The bay may be about three leagues in length, from W. to 
E. ; its greatest breadth is about a league and a half. Very 
near the middle is a large sand-bank, which gets dry at 
low-water, and over which large vessels cannot pass. Besides 
the town or village of Vatneyre, there are others dispersed 
about the bay, at certain distances ; the most considerable is 
that of Sadlangsdaler, where there is a Lutheran church ; it lies 
on the side opposite to the Danish factory, on the banks of a 
sheet of water well stocked with salmon. 

A chart of all the parts of the island that we visited, with a 
number of our own new discoveries and original remarks, 
were transmitted, on onr return, to the minister of marine, 
together wiih a collection of seventeen designs, representing 
views of different coasts, some tracts or situations in Iceland, 
and various objects of natural history, either new or but little 
known. 

The country round the bay presents a gloomy sort of pros- 
pect, but dignified and imposing; every thing bears the im- 
pression of volcanic convulsions and of the ravages of earth- 
quakes. All the mountains seem, at it were, calcinated ; you 
cannot walk except over lava and basalt, the fragments of 
which, disjoined, roll under your steps with a rattling and 
stunning noise; only two colours, red and black, diversify the 
lugubrious landscape within the circle of your view. A good 
scene-painter for a theatre, who would make a drawing of the 
infernal regions, could copy no better model than one of the 
situations of Iceland. 

One of the oddest spectacles that I ever beheld, was a very 
extensive platform, serving as a cimex, or crown, to the moun- 
tain that overlooks the anchorage of Vatneyre. It is com- 
posed of large tables of basalt, from eight to ten feet of surface, 
but on a level, and arranged regularly, one beside another, 
like so many leaves in a book ; the edge, not above four inches 
in thickness, every where meeting your view. In some parts, 
these basaltic tables, overset by earthquakes, yield such an 
image of disorder and confusion, that you would be Jed to think 
the spot (whereon no sign of vegetation or life appears) to be 
made up of the ruins of the globe. 

In low places, at the entrance of the valleys, there is some 
little appearance of verdure ; a thick turf, with a few flowers 
scattered on it, may be seen on the banks of the running 
waters. I collected a number of plants, but little known in 



88 Freminville's Voyage to the North Pole* 

Europe, large enough to form nearly the whole of the Islandic 
Flora. 

Not a single tree is to be seen in the whole district of Patrix 
Fiord ; and even in the other parts of the island, it is with 
difficulty you can light on a few dwarfish willows, and some 
stunted birch-trees. Many fruitless attempts have been made 
to sow or plant the pine and fir, from Europe; but though 
they have succeeded in the fine season, the young shoots 
were never able to stand the long and rigorous winter of a 
climate so frozen. No credit must be given to what M. Horre- 
bow reports, in his description of Iceland, wherein he makes 
mention of fruitful plains, and immense pastures ; his work, 
drawn up from the false accounts of the Dutch fishermen, is 
replete with the grossest errors. That of Anderson, built on the 
same authorities, is but little better ; and the fact is, that we 
have in Europe but very lame and imperfect accounts of this 
country, so very extraordinary and interesting in many respects. 

Iceland extends from N. to S. between 66 deg. 44 min. and 
62 deg. 22 min. 30 sec. lat. and from W. to E. between 27 deg. 
5 min. and 18 deg. 26 min. long. W. of the meridian of Paris, 
Its greatest length may be about 133 leagues, and its breadth 
about fifty-six ; the island contains a superficies of about 5,500 
square leagues. 

Exclusive of a number of towns and hamlets, there are four 
principal cities ; but in Europe, these cities would only pass 
for villages ; they are built of wood, with planks brought 
from Denmark. The first is Holum, in the north ; the second, 
named Skalholt, is in the south; both are the sees of a bishop. 
The third lies to the S. W., and is called Bessested; this is 
the residence of the governor, and the only place in the island 
where there is a small fort armed with six eight-pounders, 
mounted on carriages that are falling to pieces with age; to 
the N.E. is the fourth city, called Skrida. 

The interior of Iceland is but little known; the whole island, 
however, may be pronounced a mass of volcanic rocks, whose 
sides, black and burnt, whose summits, sharp and craggy, 
present a prospect of the most singular kind. There is 
not a single point in this sad country which does not seem to 
have undergone the action of fire ; one consequence is, that 
there is not a country on the globe more fertile in volcanic 
phenomena. 

The mountains, which are all very lofty, are formed of lava 
and basalt; you cannot find there the slightest vestige of 
vegetable soil. In winter, the extreme cold splits these cal- 
cined mountains, and causes enormous fragments of them to 
fly off, which, in their fall, divide into a number of others, 



Freminviltis Voyage to the North Pote. 8S 

which roll precipitously into the roads and ways, like so many 
torrents, to overwhelm and obliterate the traces of them. 

I was witness to several of these sorts of avalanches, which 
sometimes also take place in the fine season but ever with a 
frightful noise, and a smell resembling that which arises from 
the calcination of bricks or lime-stone. 

Not only the cold, but frequent earthquakes shake and over* 
throw the mountains of Iceland to their foundations ; cleav- 
ing, disarranging, changing the direction of their constituent 
materials, which lose their consistence* 

A number of mountains present extinguished craters; 
others are still ignivomous. In the interior of the island, 
some terrible eruptions took place in 1734, 1752, and 1755. 
The principal volcano, at present, is the mountain Krafte, 
which is ever emitting smoke and lava. Hekla, at the time 
of our stay there, was in a state of repose, but it has had new 
eruptions since. 

Hot-springs and fountains are very numerous in the island ; 
they excel all others known, in the abundance and degree of 
heat of their waters. The principal are, the springs of Gey- 
sen, situated at about two days walking journey from Hekla, 
and near Skalholt ; they issue alternately from three succes- 
sive jetteaux of a considerable height. We saw one between 
Patrix Fiord and Lusbay, hot enough for the Icelanders to 
dress their victuals in. 

The exterior geography of Iceland, that is to say, of the 
coasts, is as yet a desideratum for nearly the whole; the 
northern part is the least frequented, and the least known* 
The charts we had of them before the voyage of La Flore, 
had been copied from documents grounded on accounts of the 
Flemish and Dutch fishermen, and do not merit confidence. 
The chart published in 1767, in the French Neptune, is taken 
from M. Horrebow's ; though better than the rest, with re» 
spect to the general configuration of the lands, it is full of 
errors as to the longitudes of places. 

All the ancient Dutch charts place in the entrance, and 
about three leagues from the bay of Patrix Fiord, a group of 
ten islets, called Gouberman's Islands ; there is not, however, 
the least trace of them. It is certain that the group must 
have formerly been in the situation, as the tradition of them 
is kept up in the country, and they have doubtless been over- 
whelmed, in consequence of some sub-marine convulsion. 
The same fate has probably carried away Pepy's Island, which 
is now no where to be found, but which stands in the ancient 
charts near the eastern coast of Iceland, in 64 degrees of 
latitude. 
Voyages and Travels, No. 2. Vol. II. N 



90 Freminville's Voyage to the North Pole, 

These extraordinary phenomena are of frequent occurrence/ 
and they change, in some measure, the face of nature, and the 
general aspect of the coasts of the country. It does not ap- 
pear, however, that they impede the progress of navigation ; 
the shores are every where steep, the anchorage good, and 
the bottom is generally of volcanic gravel, or pebbles, and 
broken shells ; and often the two substances are found united. 
There are on the coasts a number of deep bays, where ships* 
may ride in perfect security, covered by the high lands that 
encircle them. 

The general population of the island at present is about 
40,000 souls ; formerly it amounted to 60,000 ; but the scurvy, 
and especially the small-pox, which proved very fatal in 1707 
and 1708, have greatly diminished the population, and are still 
very destructive. The governor-general, Van Tramp, who came 
to pay us a visit at Patrix Fiord, informed us that every year 
the number of deaths exceeded that of the births. In time, per- 
haps, the inhabitants of this country, who, besides, are addicted 
to insalubrious modes of living, will insensibly become extinct* 

Iceland, subject to the crown of Denmark from the 13th 
century,* is rather an expensive charge than a profitable pos- 
session ; the king only receives from |it 140,000 francs per 
annum, and the whole of this scanty revenue is absorbed in 
the charges of the governor, of the bailiffs, and ecclesiastics,- 
with the provisions and other expences of their households 

Notwithstanding its poverty, this country allured the cupi- 
dity of some Barbary corsairs, who, in 1626, landed here and 
carried off a number of the wretched inhabitants, whom they 
made slaves of. They were again visited in 1687, by other 
pirates, who practised the most horrid cruelties on the unfor- 
tunate natives, totally bereft of all means of defence. 

These two examples are on record, yet the King of Den- 
mark does not keep here any military force, nor have the Ice- 
landers arms of any description ; a gun, with powder and 
shot, is an object of curiosity, almost as much as with the in- 
habitants of the South-Sea Islands. We had pressing solici- 
tations to indulge such curiosity, but it was only to expend 
in the chace ; their peaceable character not suffering them to 
think of any other mode of application. 

Of all other people, the Icelanders are, perhaps, those who 
have retained the primitive patriarchal manners in the greatest 
purity ; they are good, loyal, hospitable, and unacquainted 
with any of those violent passions which, in other parts of the 

* It was in the year 1261 that the Icelanders voluntarily submitted to 
Haquin, King of Norway. 



Freminville's Voyage to the North Pole. 91 

world, lead men to act the part of butchers to each other. 
The Icelanders may, however, be characterised as indolent, 
and, in some respects, of an apathetic turn. An intimate union 
subsists among them; those of the same family seldom separate. 
The tenderness of parents for their offspring, the piety of 
these towards the authors of their being, are virtues of which 
we witnessed illustrious and affecting examples. No suspi- 
cion or distrust, one of the other, can be found here; theft 
and robbery are absolutely unknown ; and, even during ab- 
sence, the doors of their huts or cabins are always left open. 

At the first glance, one would conceive the Icelanders to be 
the most wretched of men, the most destitute of the. conve- 
niences of life, and their condition to be the most frightful ; 
but when we reflect on their unagitated character, on the few 
wants they feel, and the facility with which they can provide 
for them ; if we consider, likewise, the sweet and intimate 
union that links them in the bonds of friendship, we must 
adopt another way of thinking, and even consider them as 
happier than the Europeans, whose enjoyments are mingle^; 
with so many perplexing circumstances, originating in ambi- 
tion, in disappointments, in bodily infirmities, and the illusions 
and disquietudes of a thousand different passions. 

The Icelander, satisfied with his lot, prefers his dreary 
country to all the charms of a more polished society in Eu- 
rope. Such of them as have visited Copenhagen, in lieu of 
being smitten with the rural scenery of Denmark, were ever 
regretting their burnt mountaius and eternal snows ; and 
though numbers of them will turn out and volunteer, as sea- 
men, on board Danish, or other vessels, they are sure in the 
end to return to their native isle, to mingle their ashes with 
those of their ancestors. 

Although exiled, as it were, and having little communica- 
tion with the rest of the world, the Icelanders are gifted with 
a quickness of intellect, and supplied with a measure of in- 
struction which raises the lowest of them above the class of 
our villagers. In general, they speak Latin pretty well. In 
the eleventh century, science and literature were successfully 
cultivated here, while, at the same period, Europe was im- 
mersed in the depth of ignorance. Their MSS. composed at 
a period so remote, treat of astronomy, of physics, of natural 
history, of morals, and philosophy in general. Sir Joseph 
Banks, a celebrated naturalist, and worthy companion of Cap- 
tain Cook, was in Iceland in 1772 ; he brought away 162 va- 
luable MSS. which he presented to the British Museum. 

The native language of the Icelanders is a very ancient 
dialect of the Celtic ; it is not without its poetical effusions, 

N2 



92 Fremin*ille's Voyage to the North Pole. 

with songs or odes that turn on the heroic traditions of the 
most distant times, and were recited by the bards, called 
Scaldes. Their ancient mythology is exactly that of the 
Scandinavians, from whom they are descended: thus their 
traditions report the names of Odin and Frega; of Hella and 
the goddesses Valkiries; the aerial combats of the Shades; 
the delicious residence of Valhalla, or the palace of Odin, 
wherein the spirits of departed heroes enjoy true felicity after 
their decease. 

I could only find in Iceland one single kind of antique 
monuments ; these are tumuli, or tombs of pebbles and small 
stones heaped together ; three o^ this description we recog- 
nised on the point of Vatneyre, All the voyagers who have 
made mention of them, have represented these pyramidal 
forms as raised expressly to point out the places of anchorage, 
and to serve as beacons to vessels entering the bay ; but the 
director of the Danish factory assured me that they were an- 
cient sepulchres, and he earnestly recommended to us to forbid 
our men from despoiling or degrading them, as it would be a 
serious affliction to the natives, who could not see us even ap-* 
proach them without symptoms of pain and uneasiness. 

In France we have a great number of similar monuments, 
which may be traced to the Celtic times ; among others, is 
one in the Morbihan, near the famous men-Mrs of Carnak, 
that stand in a row, and which rises nearly a hundred feet in 
height. 

The wood necessary for constructing their fishing-vessels 
is brought from Denmark, for not a single tree is to be seen 
on the island. The only fuel the inhabitants have is fish- 
bones, with turfs of peat-moss, and a sort of lignite, or wood half 
mineralised, and very bituminous, that is found in the moun- 
tains. 

The Icelanders are extremely sober, but their unwhole-* 
some diet is productive of different diseases ; it chiefly con- 
sists of raw fish, dried in the sun, and of sheep's-heads, pre- 
served in a sort of vinegar, which they makelwith the juice 
of sorrel. They eat also a sort of sea-weed (fucus saccharic 
nus), boiled in milk; and they make soup of the lichen 
Islandicus reduced to powder. They are strangers to our 
bread, and a fragment of worm-eaten biscuit was a treat to 
them. Water and milk are their only beverage, and they ever 
testified a great dislike for our wines and strong liquors. 

Iceland may be considered as a very singular country, in 
respect of its natural history, as yet but little known, and still 
more so in a geological view, as teeming with observations 
most curious and important. The mineralogist might here 



Freminvilk's Voyage to the North Pole. 03 

collect a rich treasure of lavas, basalts, and pumices. In the 
vicinity of Patrix Fiord, we found beautiful crystals of felds- 
path, of analcirae, of melonite, of amphigene, and zeolithe; 
these substances are commonly to be found in the cavities of 
the lavas. 

I 'saw also, on the crater of an extinguished volcano, some 
octaedre crystals of native sulphur, involved in a whitish 
clayey substance ; also the obsidian stone of the ancient mi- 
neralogists may frequently be met with. 

There is no abundant variety of botanical plants in a cli- 
mate so northerly, more particularly in; the class of Phane- 
rogames. 

Here follows a list of the various species that I have ob- 
served : — 



1 Fucus saccharinus. 

2 Fucus nodosus. 

8 Fucus vesiculosus. 

4 Fucus loreus. 

5 Fucus carneus. 

6 Fucus plumosus. 

7 Ulva lactuca. 

8 Zostera marina. 

9 Hypnum squarrosum. 

10 Minum fontanum. 

11 Lichen Islandicus. 

12 Lichen chalybeiformis, 

13 Lichen spinosus. 

14 Lichen muralis. 

15 Lichen rangiferus. 

16 Lichen paschalis. 

17 Lichen pixidatus. 

18 Juncus spicatus. 

19 Anthericum calycinum. 

20 Draba muralis, 

21 Draba incana. 

22 Saxifraga tridactylites. 

23 Saxifraga oppositifolia. 

24 Erigeron uniflorum. 

25 Arabis thaliana. 



27 Saxifraga aspera. 

28 Saxifraga stellaris. 

29 Salix lanata. 

30 Salix capraa. 

31 Carpinus betulus. 

32 Dry as octopetala. 

33 Pinguicula vulgaris. 

34 Papaver alpinum. 

35 Eriophoron vaginatum. 

36 Rhodiola rosea. 

37 Carex .... 

38 Barthia alpina. 

39 Vaccinium vitis Idea. 

40 Silene rupestris. 

41 Silene arenaria. 

42 Alsine media. 

43 Rumex scutellatus. 

44 Allium 

45 Cochlearia Groenlandica. 

46 Sedum villosum. 

47 Thlaspi alliacea. 

48 Cerastium repens. 

49 Geranium repens. 

50 Ranunculus sulfureuss. 

51 Viola calcarata. 



26 Polygonum viviparum. 

There is a greater variety in the productions of Zoology. 
The mamiferous animals of the island are — 

1. The horse, which is small, but very numerous. It is 
of great use for travelling, walking with a sure step on the 
edge of precipices, and over the sharp fragments of basalt 
that lie in heaps in the paths. 

2. The bull, or ox, is poor and lean, and the island is but 
scantily stocked with them. 

•3. The sheep are very numerous, of a good size, and com- 
monly very fat. Most of the rams have four and even five 
horns. 



94 Freminville's Voyage to the North Pole. 

4. The dog- is about the size of our shepherd's dogs, which he 
pretty much resembles. The ears are straight, but gashed or 
broken at their extremities ; this is a character peculiar to the 
Iceland dogs. 

5. The Isalis, or Cams Lagopus of Linnaeus, is very common 
in Iceland. The natives call him the blue fox, from the slate- 
coloured tinge of his hair ; he is very destructive to the 
flocks. Though a carnivorous animal, he will likewise eat 
grass, for I found a quantity of it in the stomach of a young 
one killed near Vatneyre. What was still more singular, we 
found in the viscera of this animal the opercules and other 
remnants of a shell-fish, common on the shore. T was not 
aware, till then, that mamiferous animals of this description 
would eat shell-fish, and particularly such whose shell is so 
hard ; nor, I conceive, has the fact been hitherto noticed by na- 
turalists. 

6. The white bear is not a native of Iceland, but frequently 
arrives there on floating fragments of ice that are carried thi- 
ther from the coasts of Greenland. On the appearance of these 
terrible animals, the inhabitants sound an alarm, and collect 
from every quarter to chace and destroy them before they have 
time to multiply. 

7. The seal is very common. We saw more than once, round 
the bay of Leduc, another species of seal of the very largest 
dimensions, being eight or ten feet in length. The head, in^ 
stead of terminating in a pointed muzzle, as in the preceding 
tribe, is large, wide, and much like that of a dog. The co- 
lour, taken altogether, of the animal, is that of grey ashes ; un- 
like the rest of his genus, he is very shy and ferocious, and 
will let none approach him. I could only kill one of them. 

8. The whale, designated by Linnaeus as the balcena mys- 
ticetus, is less common here than at Spitzberg, 

9. The gibber, or north caper, balcena physalus, is frequently 
met with on the coasts of Iceland. 

Birds are in greater number and variety than the mammi- 
ferous animals ; but the marine species are the most numerous. 
We saw none, however, that are not well known to ornitho^ 



ogists. Such as, 




1 Aquila chrysa'etos. 


10 Emberiza nivalis. 


2 Aquila ossifraga. 


11 Fringilla vulgaris. 


3 Aquila Canadensis, 


12 Charadrius auratus. 


4 Falco haliaetos. 


13 Scolopax gallinago. 


5 Falco communis. 


14 Anas cygnus. 


6 Falco candicans. 


15* Anas fusca. 


7 Strix scandiacca. 


1(5 Anas artser. 


8 Strix aluco. 


17 Anas borealis. 


9 Corvus corax. 


18 Anas mollissiraa. 



Freminville" s Voyage to the North Pole. 95 



19 Alca arctica. 

20 Alca alee. 

21 Procellaria pelagica. 

22 Procellaria glacialis. 

23 Uriagrylle. 

24 Uriatroile. 
We found no description of 
Fish are in abundance, but with few varieties. 
The following are the several kinds: — 



25 Colymbus immer. 

26 Colymbus glacialis. 

27 Lams rissa. 

28 Larus eburneus. 

29 Sterna hirundo. 



reptiles whatever on the island. 



1 Pleuronectus hippoglossus. 

2 Pleuronectus flesus. 

3 Salmo salar. 

4 Salmo trutta. 



5 Gadus morhua. 

6 Cyclopterus lumpus. 

7 Anarrhicas lupus. 

8 Squalus glaucus. 



The seas which wash these coasts abound with the molusca 
and radiaire, but the short time of our residence in the island 
did not permit us to notice them all. The most common spe- 
cies are the doris stellata and pi/osa, the clios horealis and 
limacina, the asferias glacialis, the medusa capillata, and the 
new kind which I have described under the name of idya 
Islandica. 

The shells contain several new species of the tellina, the 
patella, and the buccinum ; we also met with a very large 
species of mediole, the pecten Islandicus, the buccinum nuda- 
tum, and the lapillus; also some species of the trochus, of the 
meretrix mercatoria ; as also of the common muscle and the 
sea-urchin, which are very good eating. 

Insects are no strangers to the climate, notwithstanding* its 
extreme rigour ; but they are few in number, and mostly of 
the order of dipteres, and of the genera culex, tipula, syr- 
phus, and bibio of Linnaeus. I also met with a new species 
of the curculio, or weasle ; and a very singular kind of night- 
bird. 

There are several of the crustaceous kind, such as the 
cancer, or crab ; the mqja, the crangon, palaeman, gammarus, 
&c; and among the Zoophytes, some very beautiful species 
of corallines. 

Such are part of the observations that I made during a stay 
of eighteen days, as well from my own researches as from the 
conversation with the physician to the governor, Van Tramp, 
a very intelligent character, who came at times to visit us, with 
all his suite, during our residence at Patrix Fiord. This gen- 
tleman, who had studied in the university of Upsal, had been 
a pupil of Linneeus. 
L A traveller that should make a longer residence in the island, 

I and penetrate further into the interior, would find there a mul- 
% titude of new facts, the narrative of which would be extremely 
% interesting ; this country, I repeat it, is almost entirely new to 

V " ~~~ 



96 Freminmlle's Voyage to the North Pole, 

The Bay of Patrix Fiord is one of the most convenient 
points for the navigator ; water, fish, and mutton, are in the 
greatest plenty; excellent game may be had, in several different 
sorts of sea-fowl ; but wood is not to be procured at any price* 

During our stay we set up some tents for our sick men, 
who very soon recovered, more especially from the use of the 
antiscorbutic vegetables that grow spontaneously in the island, 
and are frequently to be met with. The sea in this bay does 
not rise above eight feet in the highest tides. The variation 
of the needle was 33 deg. 45 min. to the N. W. 

July 30, we hoisted sail, and leaving theBay of Patrix Fiord, 
we bore away for the south, till we began again to distinguish 
Mount Jeugel ; soon after, bidding a final adieu to Iceland, 
we thought only of hastening our return to France. 

Once more we passed over the point wherein the ancient 
charts placed the Isle of Bus, which we had before explored 
in vain ; we were not more fortunate this time ; but, as on the 
former occasion, we had to encounter a broken, rippling water, 
the usual indication of shoals and shallows. 

On August the 18th, we were on the coast of Ireland ; we 
cruised there several days, at the entrance of the Bay of Don- 
negal ; we then steered for Cape Clear, which we doubled, 
to cruise on the Soles; at last we entered the Channel; 
and, on the 27th of September, cast anchor in the Road of 
the Isle of Brehut. 



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